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We love rainbows! All three of my boys were rainbow babies (born after a pregnancy loss) so rainbows hold a special significance in our house.
If like us you are obsessed with all things rainbow then you will love our favourite rainbow-themed arts, crafts and learning activities as they're simple to set up and create, plus most of them use everyday things you'll find around the home.
So if you're looking for a colourful way to play, learn or create, then read on!
All of these activities are suitable for age 2+ (under supervision) and they're a great way to develop fine motor skills and learn colours as well as have some fun!
Button posting
You will need:
Buttons in red, orang, yellow, green, blue and purple
Small shoe box (or similar sized box with a lid)
Acrylic paints
Craft knife
Take your box and paint a rainbow across the top. Once dried, cut holes big enough for the buttons.
Invite your child to put the coloured buttons in the holes - you can encourage colour-sorting, but younger children will just enjoy posting the buttons. I like to name the colour out loud each time they do it as this helps build vocabulary.
When they're finished posting all the buttons you can take the lid off and tip them out to start again!
Watercolour rainbow
You will need:
Watercolour pencils (we love the colour grip pencils by Faber Castell as they are really vibrant colours)
Thick paper or card
Paintbrush
Water
Start by scribbling a rough rainbow onto your paper. Older children might want to do this themselves.
Dip your paintbrush in water and paint along the lines from left to right so that your solid rainbow magically appears. As the pencil lines are watercolour, they will gradually blend and mix to create a beautiful rainbow.
If you want to blend the colours more, you can work from top to bottom. You can also try using different materials and see what results you get - washable felt tips, chalk pastels and paint sticks also work really well.
String painting
You will need:
String
Scissors
Acrylic paints
A4 paper
Large book
Fold your A4 paper in half widthways. You'll want to use relatively thick paper for this so that the paint doesn't bleed through.
Cut some string, slightly wider than the sheet of paper, and lay it across the centre.
Squirt on blobs of paint in a row. We have made ours into a rainbow but you can use any colours you like.
Fold the paper over and place it carefully inside your book and close it.
Carefully gather then ends and slowly pull out the string. The string will have scraped the paint into a brilliant pattern. We love this activity as the results are different every time.
Rainbow mixed-media collage
You will need:
Cardboard
Pencil
Scissors
Scraps of material, felt or ribbon
Multi coloured paper
Anything colourful you want to add e.g. buttons, straws and sequins
PVA glue
Start by drawing a rainbow shape on the cardboard - the easiest way to do this is by drawing around a plate for the larger semi circle and a cup for the smaller semi circle.
Cut your rainbow shape out and draw 5 equal lines to separate the rainbow shape into six.
Start filling them with each colour - purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red - think about laying different textures for a smart finish. We found ribbon is really good for bending around the shape, and used lots of buttons and stickers on top to add texture.
Looking for something a bit simpler? Try our scrunched tissue rainbow.
Rainbow scavenger hunt
You will need:
Something to match colours to, e.g. Montessori colour tablets (pictured)
This game can be played indoors or out - just go on a hunt to find things in certain colours.
We love to do our colour hunts outside and find natural objects or flowers to match, it's a great way to get a bit of fresh air and exercise! If you want to do it indoors, you can hunt for matching toys, books etc.
You don't need colour tablets to match your objects to; try using colour swatches, pieces of coloured paper, or even just the colours scribbled on a sheet of A4 with pens.
Fizzy rainbow
You will need:
Tray
Chalk in various colours
Grater
White wine vinegar
Chunky droppers or pipettes
Take your chalk and grate it into a separate pot for each colour - you will need around half a large piece of chalk for each.
Stir in roughly equal quantities of bicarbonate of soda to each one and mix thoroughly to create a coloured powder.
Spread on a deep-sided tray, one colour at a time, in rainbow order.
Give your child some vinegar in a bowl (not too much to avoid spills), add a pipette and let them go to town with squeezing, fizzing and mixing the colourful mess.
This is sensory heaven and most children will want to get their hands in. It's absolutely fine as the vinegar is a weak acid and not harmful, however if your child has sensitive skin or conditions such as eczema this is something I would avoid.
Dot marker rainbows
You will need:
Dot markers or bingo pens
White paper
Felt tip pens
Use your felt tip pens to draw lines to make a rainbow - you can either do this freehand or draw round objects like I did (I used plates and cups).
Invite your child to use their dot markers to trace the lines. This is a great one for developing fine motor skills and improving pencil grip. It doesn't matter how neat the dots are, it will look pretty any way.
Rainbow cutting
You will need:
Coloured paper
Marker pen
Child-safe scissors
Cut rectangles from some red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple paper. I cut across the width of an A4 sheet of paper as it is easier.
Use your marker pen to draw different lines, some straight, spikey, wiggly etc. You can have fun with this, but bear in mind the scissor skills of your child so you don't make it too tricky.
Encourage your child to cut along the lines for a fun way to practice scissor skills. If they have trouble with scissor hold, I find it helps drawing a smiley face on their thumb to encourage keeping the thumb upright. 😁
Pipecleaner threading
You will need:
Pipecleaners in rainbow colours
Pony beads to match
Threading pony beads onto pipecleaners is a fantastic way to refine your little one's fine motor skills. It's surprisingly easy due to the metal centre of the pipecleaners.
For this activity we threaded pony beads in rainbow colours. When you've done all six colours, make a rainbow and twist the ends together to secure. Or pull the beads off and practice fine motor skills some more.
If you want to keep your rainbow, tie some ribbon on and it makes a lovely wall hanging!
