Another day, another busy bin! 

My daughter LOVES cooking. She loves helping me in the kitchen, she loves using her play kitchen, and she especially loves using her pots and pans with just about every busy bin or sensory bin I put together. 

This makes my life easier when I have to think of new busy bins to put together for her. Really, you can put anything in a plastic tub, add some cooking toys, and she’ll be set! The most I’ll have to do for the next 10 – 20 minutes is pretend to eat something. 

The pasta cooking busy bin is super easy to put together and pretty affordable. All you need is some dry pasta and cooking toys, which most people already have! 

Dying Pasta

If you are looking for a quick and easy busy bin I would recommend just dumping the pasta in a plastic tub, add the toys, and call it good. If you have a bit of time though, you could look at dying the pasta with food coloring! This would add a bit of extra fun to the busy bin and will make it easy to add some color learning to the activity. 

I have seen A TON of things online about how to dye pasta. Honestly, I haven’t read any of them. I probably should one day, but I really haven’t had the time for it. So how did I dye my pasta? 

Put your dry pasta in a ziploc bag. 

Add a few drops of food coloring. Shake. 

That’s it! Are the colors super vibrant and bright? No. 

Does my daughter care? No. 

Dying pasta doesn’t have to be complicated. If you are a super busy mom that wants to be a little fun while also getting a quick activity together for your busy toddler, I would recommend trying this quick and easy dying process. 

My favorite thing about dry pasta is you can use it for multiple things! Need a quick busy bin? Pasta in a tub. Need something new to add to a craft? Glue some pasta on there. 

Supplies

With all of my busy bins or sensory bins I recommend laying down a blanket. Blankets protect your carpet from getting dirty and making clean up as simple as shaking out the blanket or tossing it in the washer. 

This week the blanket made it easier to gather up broken noodles and either toss them in the trash or back in the plastic tub.

You will need the below supplies to make a pasta Cooking Busy Bin.  

• Pasta 
• Pot 
• Bowls 
• Spoons 
• Mixing spoon or whisk (optional) 

My house usually has at least some type of cooking busy bin laying around, so it’s pretty easy to swap out the base and then add the toys. One of my favorite thing about the cooking busy bins is I can set one up and my daughter will spend the rest of the week playing with it for 20 minutes here and there. Then all I have to do next week is switch out the base. 

Educational Benefits

The pasta cooking busy bin is a great pretend play activity for your toddler or preschooler! Pretend play is not only great for your kid’s imagination, but it also helps your child process and understand the world around. I love to watch my daughter play and see the little things she’s picked up about the world around her. Things like, everything needs garlic, dad likes coffee, food is always hot and needs to blown on first.

This busy bin also works on your child’s hand-eye coordination! Your child will practice scooping, pouring, and using spoons without you needing to encourage them! It’s all just part of the play.

Are there any fun spins you put in this sensory bin to entertain your child? 

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