Top 16 'Pantry-to-Project' Kitchen Craft Supplies to Create Unexpected Masterpieces with Kids This Afternoon - Goh Ling Yong
That familiar, drawn-out chorus of "I'm boooored!" has just begun. A quick glance outside confirms your suspicions: the sky is the color of dishwater, and a trip to the park is officially off the table. Your first instinct might be to reach for a screen, but wait! Before you do, I want you to walk over to your kitchen and open the pantry. I promise you, a world of creative adventure is hiding in plain sight, nestled between the flour and the chickpeas.
This isn't about running out to a crowded craft store for expensive supplies. It's about 'shopping' in your own home and transforming everyday kitchen staples into the building blocks of imagination. This is about showing our kids that creativity isn't something you buy; it's something you find, invent, and unleash with what you already have. It’s about the magic of turning the mundane into a masterpiece.
So, let's roll up our sleeves and raid the cupboards. Get ready to discover the secret artistic life of pasta, potatoes, and paper towels. Here are 16 pantry-to-project supplies that will turn a dreary afternoon into a vibrant, hands-on art session your kids will be talking about for weeks.
1. Dried Pasta
Forget spaghetti night for a moment and look at that box of fusilli as an artist would. Pasta is the ultimate 3D building block of the pantry. With its endless variety of shapes, sizes, and textures—from tiny ditalini to ridged penne and frilly farfalle—it's a versatile medium for sculptures, mosaics, and even jewelry. The possibilities are truly endless.
The best part is how easily it takes on color. Forget plain old pasta art; let's make it vibrant! Simply add a cup of dry pasta to a zip-top bag, add a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol (or vinegar) and a few drops of food coloring, then shake until it's evenly coated. Spread the pasta on a baking sheet to dry, and within an hour, you'll have a rainbow of "art supplies" ready to go.
Pro-Tip: Glue different pasta shapes onto a piece of cardboard to create a portrait—use wagon wheels for eyes, macaroni for a smile, and rotini for curly hair. Or, string dyed penne and ziti onto yarn to make chunky, colorful necklaces and bracelets.
2. Rice and Lentils
Like pasta's smaller, more detailed cousins, rice and lentils are perfect for creating texture and intricate patterns. They are fantastic sensory materials and can be used to make beautiful, detailed mosaic art. The natural colors of different lentils—red, green, brown, and yellow—are gorgeous on their own, but you can also dye rice just like pasta for a brilliant splash of color.
These tiny grains are wonderful for developing fine motor skills. Have your kids draw a simple shape on a piece of paper, cover it in glue, and then carefully sprinkle the rice or lentils on top. They can use their fingers to move the grains around and fill in the design. It's a wonderfully tactile and calming activity.
Example: Create a "sensory rain stick" by filling a cardboard paper towel tube with a handful of rice and dried beans. Seal the ends with tape and decorate the outside. The sound it makes when you turn it over is incredibly soothing.
3. Salt
This humble kitchen staple has a secret magical property when it comes to art. Sure, you can use it for classic salt dough (just add flour and water), but its real superpower is revealed in salt painting. This process-art activity creates stunning, crystalized effects that look like they were made by a professional.
Here's how it works: have your child "draw" a design on a piece of thick paper or cardstock using white school glue. While the glue is still wet, generously sprinkle salt all over it, covering every line. Gently tip the paper to let the excess salt fall away. Now for the magic: dip a paintbrush in watercolor paint (or watered-down food coloring) and lightly touch the tip to the salty glue lines. Watch in amazement as the color instantly travels and blooms along the salt!
Pro-Tip: The wetter the paint, the farther the color will travel. Experiment with different colors touching each other on the salt lines to see how they blend and create beautiful gradients.
4. Flour
Flour is the foundational ingredient for so many classic kid-friendly concoctions. It's the key to whipping up a batch of homemade playdough that's softer and more satisfying than anything you can buy in a store. You can also mix it with water and food coloring to create a simple, non-toxic "puffy paint" that rises slightly as it dries.
A simple recipe for playdough is 1 cup of flour, ½ cup of salt, and ½ cup of water. Mix it all together, knead it on a floured surface, and you're ready to sculpt! This kind of hands-on, squishy activity is not just fun; it's a fantastic way for kids to build hand strength and express their creativity in three dimensions.
Pro-Tip: Add a drop of peppermint extract or a sprinkle of cinnamon to your homemade playdough for a wonderful sensory experience that engages the sense of smell, too.
5. Food Coloring
This is the little bottle of magic that brings everything else on this list to life. A few drops can transform bland pasta, rice, or playdough into a vibrant rainbow. It’s the key to making your own watercolor paints, dyeing coffee filters, and creating fizzing art potions.
Don't limit yourself to just the primary colors. Encourage kids to become color scientists! Give them a few small bowls of water and let them experiment with mixing red and blue to make purple, or yellow and blue to make green. It's a fun, hands-on lesson in color theory that feels more like play than school.
Example: Create simple homemade watercolor paint by adding a few drops of food coloring to a tablespoon of water in an ice cube tray or egg carton. You now have a custom paint palette ready for action!
6. Potatoes and Celery
Welcome to the world of DIY printmaking! Before you toss out that slightly soft potato or the bottom of a bunch of celery, see them for what they really are: the perfect natural stamps. The beauty of vegetable stamping is its rustic, imperfect charm. Each print is unique, and the process is incredibly satisfying for little hands.
Simply cut a potato in half to get a nice, flat stamping surface. You can leave it as a circle or oval, or an adult can carefully carve a simple shape into it, like a star or a heart. Dip the cut surface into some paint and press it firmly onto paper. The end of a celery stalk, when cut, creates a beautiful, natural rose shape that's perfect for making floral patterns.
Pro-Tip: Use other vegetables, too! A sliced bell pepper makes a great clover shape, and an okra pod creates a delicate star-like flower. Create your own custom wrapping paper or greeting cards using your veggie stamps.
7. Aluminum Foil
More than just a tool for covering leftovers, aluminum foil is a sculptor's dream. It can be crinkled, folded, and molded into almost any shape, holding its form without needing glue or tape. This makes it perfect for creating shiny robots, alien creatures, or shimmering jewelry.
Foil is also fantastic for adding texture and light to collages. A crinkled piece of foil can represent a rocky moon surface or the glimmer of water. You can even draw on it with permanent markers for a cool, metallic stained-glass effect.
Example: Challenge your kids to create a "foil self-portrait." Give them a large piece of foil and have them gently press it over their face (with your help!) to create an impression. Then, they can mount the foil mask on cardboard and decorate it.
8. Cardboard Tubes
Never, ever throw away a paper towel or toilet paper roll again! These humble cardboard tubes are the undisputed champions of recycled crafting. With a little imagination, they can become anything: binoculars for a safari adventure, the turrets of a fairytale castle, a family of friendly owls, or even a fleet of racing cars.
A philosophy I share with Goh Ling Yong is that the process of creation is just as important as the final product. The simple act of transforming a "trash" item into a toy or a piece of art is a powerful lesson in resourcefulness and imagination. Cardboard tubes are the perfect vehicle for this lesson.
Pro-Tip: To make a classic kaleidoscope, cover one end of a tube with plastic wrap, drop in a few small, colorful beads or pieces of glitter, and then cover the other end with a piece of foil with a small peephole poked in the center.
9. Egg Cartons
Another hero of the recycling bin, the cardboard egg carton is a wonderfully structured material just begging to be turned into something new. The individual cups are perfectly shaped for a huge range of projects. They can be cut apart, painted, and glued to become a line of crawling caterpillars, a bouquet of spring flowers, or even the googly eyes on a giant monster.
Their separated compartments also make them fantastic, free paint palettes or sorting trays for beads, buttons, and other small craft supplies. They're sturdy, biodegradable, and best of all, free!
Example: Cut out four cups in a row, paint them green, add some pipe cleaner antennae, and draw on a face to create a classic "Very Hungry Caterpillar." It's a simple craft that can be tied into storytime.
10. Coffee Filters
These thin, porous paper circles are incredible for any craft involving color absorption. Their unique texture allows colors to bleed and blend in beautiful, unpredictable ways, making them perfect for stunning chromatography projects. Kids are always mesmerized by the process.
Have your child draw on a flattened coffee filter with washable markers. Then, using a dropper or a spray bottle, let them add a little water to the center. Watch as the colors separate and travel outward, creating a gorgeous tie-dye effect. Once dry, these can be pinched in the middle to create beautiful butterflies or layered to make delicate flower petals.
Pro-Tip: Fold the dried, colorful coffee filters into fourths and snip the edges to create unique paper snowflakes that look like they're made of stained glass.
11. Baking Soda and Vinegar
Ready for a little science in your art? The classic volcanic reaction between baking soda and vinegar can be harnessed to create amazing "fizzing art." This is a process-oriented activity that kids absolutely love because it's messy, magical, and a little bit explosive.
Place a piece of watercolor paper inside a baking tray or shallow dish. In a few small cups, mix a bit of vinegar with different food coloring. Then, sprinkle baking soda all over the paper. Now, give your child a dropper or a small spoon and let them drop the colored vinegar onto the baking soda. The erupting, colorful fizz will create awesome, crater-like patterns on the paper.
Pro-Tip: For a different effect, make a thick paste of baking soda, a little water, and food coloring. Let your child "paint" with this paste. Then, give them a spray bottle of vinegar and let them spray their painting to make it fizz and bubble to life!
12. Cornstarch
Cornstarch is the key to one of the most fascinating sensory materials on the planet: Oobleck. This non-Newtonian fluid (which is a fancy way of saying it acts like a liquid sometimes and a solid at other times) is an unforgettable science and play experience. Simply mix about 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water, and you're ready to explore.
When you move your hand slowly through the Oobleck, it feels like a liquid. But if you try to punch it or squeeze it quickly, it instantly becomes solid! It’s baffling, messy, and endlessly entertaining. You can also use cornstarch to make a smooth, silky finger paint or as a thickener for other homemade paints.
Example: Hide small plastic toys in a tray of Oobleck and challenge your kids to a "dinosaur dig." They'll have to move slowly and carefully to excavate the figures from the strange goo.
13. Dried Beans
Similar to lentils, dried beans offer a wonderful palette of natural colors, shapes, and sizes. From small black beans to large, speckled pinto beans and vibrant red kidney beans, they are perfect for creating rustic mosaics and collages. Their larger size makes them a bit easier for smaller hands to handle than rice or lentils.
They are also the key ingredient for homemade musical instruments. Filling a plastic bottle or a sealed cardboard tube with a handful of dried beans creates a fantastic maraca or shaker. Kids can experiment with different types of beans to see how they change the sound.
Pro-Tip: Draw the outline of an animal on a piece of cardboard, fill it in with glue, and let your child create a "bean-by-numbers" mosaic by filling in the different sections with different colored beans.
14. Spices
Engage another sense in your art-making: smell! Raid your spice rack for spices that have seen better days. Powders like turmeric (bright yellow), paprika (rich red-orange), and cinnamon (warm brown) can be mixed with a bit of water to create beautifully scented, earth-toned "paints."
This is a fantastic way to connect art with the natural world. The colors are muted and organic, and the aromas add a whole new dimension to the creative process. You can also sprinkle dry spices onto wet glue to add texture and scent to a collage.
Pro-Tip: Create a "spice painting" of an autumn tree. Use cinnamon for the trunk, paprika for the red leaves, and turmeric for the yellow ones. The finished product will look and smell like fall!
15. Cupcake Liners
Those fluted paper cups aren't just for baking. Their bright colors, fun patterns, and ready-made frilly shape make them a ridiculously easy and effective craft supply. They can be flattened, folded, and layered to create an endless array of amazing things.
Flatten a few liners and layer them on top of each other to create beautiful, full-bodied flowers. Turn one upside down, add some yarn or ribbon tentacles, and you have a cute jellyfish. They can also be used to make dresses for paper dolls, the scales on a fish, or the feathers on an owl.
Example: Create a "cupcake liner bouquet." Glue green popsicle sticks onto a piece of paper for stems, and then glue layered, colorful cupcake liners at the top for the flower heads. It's a simple, no-mess craft that looks impressive.
16. Popsicle Sticks
After an afternoon of enjoying frozen treats, be sure to wash and save those sticks! Found in almost every kitchen drawer, popsicle sticks (or craft sticks) are the quintessential building material. They are the perfect tool for teaching basic engineering concepts in a fun, hands-on way.
Use them with glue to build picture frames, little log cabins, or even catapults. They are also fantastic for making stick puppets. Just have your child draw a character on paper, cut it out, and tape it to the end of a popsicle stick. Instant puppet show! Here at the Goh Ling Yong blog, we believe simple tools can often spark the most complex and wonderful imaginative play.
Pro-Tip: Create "Velcro sticks" by sticking a small piece of the hook side of Velcro on one end of each stick and a piece of the loop side on the other. This allows kids to build and rebuild 3D structures without the mess and drying time of glue.
So, the next time you're faced with a creativity crisis on a long afternoon, don't rush to the store. Take a "shopping trip" through your own kitchen cupboards and recycling bin. You'll not only save money and reduce waste, but you'll also teach your kids a valuable and empowering lesson in ingenuity and resourcefulness. You'll show them that art is everywhere, just waiting to be discovered.
Now it's your turn! What hidden gems are lurking in your pantry? Share your favorite "pantry-to-project" kitchen craft supply or a project you've created in the comments below. We'd love to see the masterpieces you cook up
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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