Rainbow Play

I think I will always love activities that involve rainbows. So while I try to mix up certain focus topics from year to year, rainbows will probably always make the cut. But there are so many different ways to explore rainbows, that it's not hard to find something new to try.

Rainbow Towers 

This simple fine motor activity was a big hit. 

All you need is fruit loops, spaghetti noodles, and playdough.

It also encouraged some engineering thought and experimentation. 

Will a small base support a large tower? 

Can I build a tower sideways? 

Color Scavenger Hunt + Rainbow Table

Roll the dice and find a colored item in the classroom to add to the rainbow table. 

Walking Rainbow Experiment

I read about this experiment in this awesome book, The Curious Kid's Science Book and was really excited to try it out. First we made all the colors of the rainbow using food coloring (and some improvising with markers since some of my food coloring ran out. Oops.)

Then we put in paper towels. We approached this activity with a couple of questions about color. Which color would absorb the fastest? Which color would be the brightest? 

Since I wasn't able to use food coloring for all the colors, my personal question was, will the marker colored water work as well as the food coloring? :) 

Then we waited...

Within a few minutes we could see some of the color starting to spread.

But then we left it and went on with other activities, checking on it periodically.

I realized that I should have started the activity sooner because the progress was pretty slow after that. By the end of the day, it hadn't changed a whole lot.

But when they came back the next day, it looked beautiful!

And interestingly enough, the blue, red, and purple water had all been colored using markers, but the blue one was the only one that didn't absorb very well. Curious...

Anyway, the bright colors inspired us to do some rainbow art. 

Although they looked enticing, they did not make very bright paint colors. 

So we ended up using crayons instead. 

Kid-drawn rainbows are my favorite!