Why buy play food for your kids' imaginative kitchen when you can just make it right at home?! Our Fake Mac and Cheese craft could not be any easier! Simply dye your pasta, let it dry, and start playing!

fake mac and cheese in bowl on doll's table

If you love creating your own play food like we do, be sure to check our our Play Food Asparagus and Carrot craft, as well as these adorable Felt Hot Dogs.

Jump to:

👍Why We Love Fake Mac and Cheese
✂️ Supplies
📝How to Make Fake Mac and Cheese
✏️ Expert Tips and Tricks
🧶 Other Fun Play Food Crafts
🥣 Fake Mac and Cheese Craft

👍Why We Love Fake Mac and Cheese

Lots of playtime. We love play food crafts! Once kids create their own mac and cheese, they can actually play with it!

Craft with leftover pasta! Sometimes we don't use all the pasta in a box, so why not use this leftover pasta for crafting.

Simple and quick- It's so easy to dye pasta! Once you mix the pasta with the vinegar and food gel, it should dry in 10-15 minutes!

Fine motor skills- Our fake mac and cheese craft provides a great opportunity for kids to practice their developing fine motor skills, like pouring, mixing and gluing.

✂️ Supplies

Notes on Supplies:

Cookie sheet- to keep our pasta contained to one spot
Parchment paper- to minimize a mess
Medium shells- our favorite pasta for mac and cheese
White vinegar- help the color to "stick"
Food gel- while we prefer gel coloring, food coloring will also work! For more tips and tricks, check out how to dry pasta for crafts
Ziploc sandwich bag- this is where we dye the pasta!
Hot glue gun- we find this helps pasta to stick the best but you can also use a simple craft glue
Paper plate or bowl- to glue your fake mac and cheese to!
Toothpick- optional, for mixing together food gel and vinegar

📝How to Make Fake Mac and Cheese

Step 1: Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine 1-2 teaspoon of white vinegar with 1-2 drops of yellow or orange gel coloring. Whisk together. Note: We used a toothpick for this task.

Step 2: Place uncooked shells into a Ziploc sandwich bag. Pour vinegar-color mixture into bag and seal shut. Shake bag of pasta vigorously until shells are evenly colored, but make sure that bag is sealed!

Step 3: Pour colored noodles onto parchment paper. Allow noodles to dry for 10-15 minutes.

Step 4: Next, place droplets of glue onto paper bowl or plate. Glue the fake mac and cheese one-by-one onto the plate. To make this more challenging, have kids count their pasta and make enough droplets of glue to match their number of pasta pieces. Allow glue to try and start playing!

Your kids can have endless sessions of 'kitchen' and 'restaurant' with this easy, DIY fake mac and cheese! But don't forget...you can't really eat it!

playing with fake mac and cheese with dolls

✏️ Expert Tips and Tricks

Protect your space- We recommend lining your surface with parchment paper and having wet paper towels handy for spills and messes.
Consider wearing protective gloves to protect your hands from food dye.
Spread out pasta as it dries- Spread the pasta as widely as you can on parchment paper so the individual pieces will dry.
Allow dyed pasta to completely dry before gluing it onto a paper bowl or plate.
To learn more about coloring pasta for kids' activities, check out our posts on how to dry pasta for crafts.