I recently discovered “magic noodles”, otherwise known as “Magic Maize” or “Magic Nuddles”. Basically, magic noodles only require water to stick, which makes it super easy to use. All that is remaining is a little bit of creativity and imagination to do this craft. This is a great rainy day or any day activity since it requires very little set-up time and very few materials.

Things you will need:

• Magic Noodles (you can get these from any arts & crafts store)
• Water
• Paper
• Paint Brush
• Print-outs (optional)
• Cardboard (optional)
• Pencil (optional)
• Scissors (optional)
• Googly Eyes (optional) 

Set-Up Time: 5-10 mins (to find print-outs & cut cardboard shapes)

Activity Time: 20-30+ mins

Ages: Toddler to adult (depends on the difficulty of the project)

The magic noodles come in bags filled with many different colors. So before started our project I had Zayden (my 3 1/2 year old) help me sort out the different colors.

I wasn’t sure how long this activity would take or how interested he would be in “magic noodles” – it could last 30 minutes or 2 minutes. I wanted to start Zayden off with something really easy just to get the hang of it, so we did a print out of the letter Z. I explained that he needed to use the paint brush first and make the letter wet with water. Then just tap the noodle on the paper. Pretty simple and within 2 minutes he was done.

Next onto the main activity – Superheroes (Zayden’s favorite). Earlier in the afternoon I “Googled” coloring pages for the Captain America Shield, Batman Logo & Superman Logo and then printed them out.

He was really excited for this part of the activity since he loves superheroes so much.  He sat there in complete silence and was completed focused on staying within the lines. This would be a good non-messy craft activity at a superhero themed party.

While he was working on his superheroes, I used the magic noodles to fill in my SuperMommy logo (this was after all the superhero portion of the activity).

Zayden was taking his time with his project, so I decided to make a snake just because I felt like being creative.

Since Zayden was finishing the project quicker than I anticipated and since we still had tons more noodles, I decided to cut a freestyle “heart” out of an old cardboard box as our next project. This would also make a great Valentine’s Day Craft.

Then he requested that I make him a “butterfly”. “Um ok” – so Mommy, the super artist, drew out a butterfly (yes it looks like a kindergartner did it), and then cut it out of the cardboard. Zayden by this time was tired, since he had already had a full day of school and asked Mommy to fill in the butterfly for him. Which I did.

We obviously did very simple projects (suitable for a 3 ½ year old), however when I was searching online I found some really interesting things – like creating buildings, animals, etc, which would be great for older children. Next time I am going to see if we can make some more complicated, 3 dimensional things. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Super Tip: Make sure have some print-outs of things that your kids are interested in like pirates, princesses, firefighters, trains, dolls, etc. This makes it much more fun and entertaining for the kids.