Next time you come across some nearly empty boxes of pasta in your cabinet, give this “noodle train” project a try.
Instructions:
- Work on your “design”first. Lay all the pieces out beforeyou begin securing them together.
- Begin by breaking flat lasagna noodles into 4- to 5-inch piecesto create the train engine. Use a hot glue gun to join three piecestogether. Note: A hot glue gun gets very hot and should only beused by an adult.
- Next, use tall, straight pasta, like rigatoni or penne, to addheight to your engine car. Add another piece of lasagna noodle tocreate the “roof.” Stack rigatoni or penne to create an “engine” upfront. Finally, glue on several pieces of rotelle (wheel-shapedpasta) for “wheels.”
- Once you have the engine constructed, use your imagination tocreate more “train cars.” Start with layers of flat lasagna noodlesto build the base and use rotelle for the wheels. Beyond that, getcreative with your food! We stacked rigatoni to make a “crate” tohaul cargo. Glue together layers of shells to make “piles oflumber.”
This project is meant to inspire variations. If you planahead, you could paint the individual pasta pieces the day beforeand let them dry overnight before you assemble your train. Considerusing small pasta pieces to build “passengers” for your noodletrain. Make trees and other landscape elements to set the scene asyour noodle train travels through a cityscape orcountryside.
Materials:
- Various dried pastas: You’ll need some flat lasagna and rotelle(wheel-shaped) pasta to construct the base of the train cars. Allother embellishments are up to you, so use whatever pasta shapesyou already have on hand. Good options include penne, shells,rigatoni, farfalle, ditalini or other small pasta.
- Hot glue gun
- Paints, paint brushes, glitter or other embellishments
