Hanukkah Pasta Menorahs

 

 

 Materials:

·        Lasagna noodle

·        (10) Rigatoni noodles (straight pieces with open, flat ends)

·        Other small pasta shapes or even Hanukkah pasta

·        Glue (we used Elmer's glitter glue and it worked well)

·        Spray paint (optional)

 When deciding on a Hanukkah project to do with the kids, I decided I really wanted to make menorahs with them. I came across this idea for pasta menorahs on Pinterest and thought this would be fun and inexpensive. I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but wow was I surprised!  These look amazing!  I found Hanukkah pasta at Bed, bath & Beyond that we used to decorate the menorahs giving it that extra fun touch and to make them look extra special I spray painted them with silver spray paint!

 These were fun and the perfect craft for my 4.5 year olds to make. Alternatively, if you didn't want to spray paint your menorah you could always dye some of the pasta pieces blue ahead of time and use blue or silver glitter glue to make them more "hanukkah-ish". You could also alternate blue and the natural yellow of the pasta to create patterns.

Emma was excited to get started!

 

 Start by handing out 1 lasagna noodle flat side down, 10 rigatoni pieces (make sure these stand up straight) and a bottle of glue. We did this activity on our craft tray to minimize mess. We started by making the Shamash candle (the helper candle) and to do this we glued two pieces of rigatoni together and then glued that to our lasagna noodle. We talked about the placement of the Shamash candle, which could be placed in the middle or at one end. They each had their own opinion on where there's should go.

 

 After trial and error, we found out that the best way to glue the rigatoni onto the lasagna noodle was by making dots of glue and then sticking the noodles on.  Dylan decided to make an entire line of glue which also worked.  Using either the dot method or the line of glue, glue the eight candle holders, aka rigatoni noodles, onto your lasagna sheet. Once all the rigatoni pieces are glued on allow 15 minutes for them to dry before gluing on the decorative pasta pieces. Definitely wait those few minutes or else the rigatoni pieces will get knocked over while decorating.  Alternatively, you could stop now, but it is fun and festive to decorate it!

 

 

 After the 15 minutes are up, hand out your smaller pieces of pasta. I found these great Hanukkah pasta shapes at Bed, Bath & Beyond that had dreidels and Stars of David (I found some online at cost plus).  I handed out a bunch of these and let them go to work. They amazed me when they each decided to create repeating patterns all on their own!  Math and art all in one activity!  They were having so much fun they even wanted to continue the pattern on the back of the menorahs!

 Once they were finished decorating we let them sit overnight to dry completely.  As I said before you can leave them as is at this point or continue on to spray paint them as we did.

 

 The next day, I brought them out into the garage, with the garage door open so I didn't suffocate from the fumes (NEVER spray paint inside!), and placed them onto old newspaper. I then sprayed them with silver spray paint until they were fully coated. They came out beautifully!

I set close together so I could spray them all at the same time.

Jake's Menorah Masterpiece
 

Emma's Menorah Masterpiece

 

 



Dylan's Menorah Masterpiece

These pasta menorahs are going to be a gorgeous addition to our Hanukkah décor this year!  We will proudly light them each night of Hanukkah as well.

The final product

 I hope you enjoyed this craft and I hope you try it with your little ones!

 Happy Hanukkah!