Blogger / 25 May, 2026 / Nanny Anita

Butterfly Pasta Sensory Tray

You all should know that I like to make things so much harder for myself when it comes to doing activities, and that is exactly what happened with this butterfly pasta sensory tray.  There are two ways you could do this, the easy and sensible way, or my way which takes forever to set up.

Make sure you follow my sensory board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

To make your own butterfly pasta sensory tray you will need:

• Farfalle pasta
• Zip lock bag
• Stellette pasta
• Giant cous cous or rice
• Paint
• Vinegar
• Sensory tray
• Bowls/scoops/tweezers

The sensible way to set this up is to put each of the different types of pasta/cous cous/rice into their own bag.  Add some paint and a little bit of vinegar, seal it up, and shake it so that everything is evenly coated.  Then empty it onto a tray to dry.

Oh no not me.  While I did do that with the stellette pasta and I took some of giant cous cous I had previously dyed, for the butterflies I hand painted them.  Not only did I had painted them I turned them into several types of butterflies.  I made Monarch, Brimstone, and Holly Blue butterflies.  If I added up all the time it took me to do this, it would probably be about a day to make 60 of them.  Did NC apricate this? No.  Did I enjoy doing it?  Absolutely.  Do you need to do this too? Only if you enjoy doing that kind of thing.  You could turn it into its own activity.

When all your pasta has dried add it to your sensory tray along with the bowls and scoops.  NC loved filling up her bowls and pouring it out.  We had had this sensory tray out for a week, and she played with it every day.  Afterwards all the fillings and butterflies were added to zip lock bags and put into my sensory filling bin ready to use again at a later date.

If you enjoyed this butterfly pasta sensory tray, be sure to check out my butterfly pasta pictures, wind up butterflies, and butterfly and flower activity.

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