Creative Food Art Projects

Food art projects are a fun and inexpensive way to encourage children's creative skills.

Food art projects provide a fun and inexpensive activity for children that helps them to develop their motor skills and be creative. Dry beans and pasta work particularly well because these foods are cheap, and they do not rot. Find out if children have any special allergies so that you can void using foods that might trigger allergic reactions.

Pasta Jewelry

Pasta is an inexpensive food, so it is great to use for craft and art projects. Use uncooked pasta and let the kids make a necklace or bracelet by threading pasta onto a piece of string. Use an assortment of tubular pastas such as penne, elbow macaroni and shells. If desired, you can paint the pasta pieces with tempera paint before stringing them together.

Food Painting

Boiled eggs are not the only food item that you can paint. Light-colored apples, for instance, also provide a good surface for paint. You can use acrylic or tempera paint. Before adding paint, wash and dry apples. You can specify a theme, such as a holiday or season, or just let the kids paint designs according to their own imaginations. You do not necessarily need to use apples. Pumpkins and gourds work well. Watermelons also hold paint well, although these fruits tend to be more expensive. Just stay away from foods that are too fragile to be handled during painting.

Tambourines

Attach two paper plates together with a stapler. The paper plates should face each other so that the rims of the plates touch and can be stapled together. Leave a small space to fill the inside of the plates with dry beans or pasta. Fill the plates with 1 cup of dry beans or pasta. Staple the hole shut so that the food is completely contained. When you shake the plate tambourine, it will make noise.

Food Faces

Arranging food into faces is a fun and easy craft for young children. Pour glue on a Styrofoam or paper plate and then place food on top of glue in image. Cheap foods that work well for this project include carrots, licorice, dry beans, pasta, popcorn kernels, marshmallows, hard candies, pepper and rice. Let the kids use their imaginations and create a portrait out of the food. If the kids are young, it might help for you to make your own to show them as an example.

References

• Incredible Edible Crafts: Fun Kids' Crafts