Rainbow
Rainbows create a natural source of beauty and awe. Commonly associated with spring, these natural wonders work well as craft ideas to capture and hold children's often short attention spans. Rainbow crafts can fit into many themed units, including spring, weather, St. Patrick's Day and colors. These colorful crafts work for young children of all age groups, including preschoolers, and rainbow crafts also keep kids entertained at home.
Tinted Rice Rainbows
Uncooked rice is easy to dye to the colors of the rainbow. Divide the rice into separate piles for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. To color the rice, mix a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol with a few drops of food coloring. Repeat for each color of the rainbow, keeping piles separate to prevent color bleeding. Add the rice to the coloring and stir or shake until all of the rice is covered. Spread the tinted rice on wax paper to dry. Cut out a rainbow shape from poster board or cardboard. Draw lines to divide the rainbow into the color sections. Let kids apply glue to the first section of the rainbow and sprinkle the colors, one at a time, on the glue. Shake off any excess rice. Continue adding glue and colored rice to one section at a time to complete the rainbow. To help kids remember the order of the colors, teach them the acronym ROY G. BIV: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Rainbow Pasta Jewelry
Uncooked pasta can be tinted in the same way as rice. Choose pasta in any shape with a hole through it so your children can string it into a necklace. Add a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol with food coloring and stir in the dry pasta until it is covered. You'll also need to let the pasta dry before using it. Teach the kids the order of the colors in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Have them thread the tinted pasta onto strings in that order to represent the rainbow. Tie the ends of the string to create a necklace, or use small pasta shapes to make bracelets or anklets.
Rainbow Cake
This craft creates an edible rainbow for the kids to enjoy. Use white cake batter so the colors are true. Divide the batter into bowls, one for each color of the rainbow. Use food coloring to tint each bowl of batter to a different color. Pour the red batter into the bottom of the pan. Spread it out into a thin layer. Carefully add the orange batter next, followed by the other colors in the order of the rainbow. Bake the cake according to the recipe directions. Each slice of cake will have the colors of the rainbow in it. You can also use the same method to make rainbow cupcakes, layering the colors in each of the cupcake liners.
Mobiles
A half-circle of poster board creates the main part of this rainbow mobile. Divide it into color sections and have the kids paint each section appropriately. Cut two streamers or ribbons in each color of the rainbow to about 2 feet each. Tape the streamers or ribbons at the bottom of each section. For example, the red streamer goes at the bottom of the red section and hangs down below the rainbow. An orange streamer hangs from the orange section of the rainbow, yellow, etc. Hang the mobiles from the ceiling for a colorful display.
Tags: blue indigo, blue indigo violet, color rainbow, colors rainbow, each color, each color rainbow
