Using pasta is something that I remember being exposed to when as a preschooler I was asked to create pictures using shaped pasta. They’re so easy to create and you can color your pasta too by just placing it in a Ziploc bag along with several drops of food coloring. Besides being fun and creative, it’s also a nice way of introducing color vocabulary. You can also ask your students to use pasta to create their personalized alphabet poster and name tags. Or how about making their own necklaces or bracelets using pasta? What I absolutely love is using animal shaped pasta to introduce animal vocabulary. You can even ask children to create their own zoo image! Another alternative would be to ask them to make a comic strip where the main characters are pasta animals!
Another great idea -> http://www.education.com/activity/article/Punctuate_with_Pasta/
With (Pre) Intermediate students
One of the most difficult grammar parts for students to grasp is countable versus uncountable nouns, especially when the latter are countable in their mother tongue. Since pasta is uncountable in English, you can create your own scavenger hunt by giving students clue cards of uncountable items that they can find in their pantry and which they can bring in class. Apart from that use, whenever you play vocabulary bidding games in class, children can place their bid by using pasta. In order to familiarize students with kitchen related verbs (such as stir, mix, pour etc.) you can create a pasta salad in class.
You can also teach body parts!(pic)
In order for students to understand the importance of home made cooking, ask them to visit the PBS kids website where they can find recipe card models.http://pbskids.org/lunchlab/#/food/recipe/88/print. Ask them to make their own pasta dishes at home, bring a sample of it in class and create their own food fact list of the ingredients used in the recipe.
PS: For more on pasta and other types of food -> http://www.pbs.org/teachers/lunchlab/lessonplans/
