Place a couple of handfuls of the macaroni to be dyed into a gallon size zip lock bag. Add a dash of rubbing alcohol and a dash of food color or liquid watercolor. Zip it up and shake until the objects have absorbed the color. Use any other dry food items (like Cheerios) that won't perish over time. When done with coloring your items; spread out on layers of newspaper to dry.

Take colorful string from the craft store, the kind used for friendship bracelets.  It should be thick enough to hold up to the objects you will be adding to create your necklace plus the wear and tear of taking it on / off to wear it. Thread the string through the macaroni or create beautiful macaroni designs on a flat surface before threading it through.

Also:

Materials: large plastic beads, pipe cleaners

Instructions: By stringing beads on pipe cleansers tots can easily bend bracelets into shape, and will quickly make "jewelry" for every member of the family.