Rainbow STEAM Toddler Activities
A few Fridays ago my partner was putting our 3 year old, G, to bed after a rainstorm. While I was washing dishes I spied a rainbow bending across the cloud-filled sky out our kitchen window. Despite a strong desire for our children to just sleep at the end of a long day, I dropped whatever dish I was washing and rushed upstairs to point it out to G. His reaction was well worth the time spent to get the baby back to bed after the excitement roused him.
Weather observation is such a wonderfully accessible and simple way to add a bit of science to the day to day with a toddler — it can also be very exciting! I still remember G’s first real thunderstorm, how he pointed to his ear to indicate he could hear the thunder and how he looked at me and signed “More! More!” …as if I could control the weather.
With that enthusiasm and the relevance of the rainbow flag for Pride month in mind, I planned out a bunch of simple rainbow activities for us to enjoy.
Color Match Paintings
Materials: Construction paper, egg carton (or paint pallet), paint brush, cup of water, towel.
Prep: Trace/cut-out the shape; squeeze a bit of paint on a brush and paint the color’s name where it goes on the shape, rinsing your brush between paints.
G recently got some paint-by-number activities from our local library that he really enjoyed. He was able to do them independently because, while he is not reading yet, the colors and numbers were printed in their corresponding colors so he just had to do some matching. I was inspired by that to create a couple color matching paint projects for him so he could paint a rainbow somewhat independently.
Takeaway: Being able to do it by himself had G highly motivated, and when he was finished he was so proud of what he had made. The flower is currently hanging in his room and the rainbow became part of one of our later projects.
These paintings were great for learning the order of rainbow colors, matching, practicing color names and sequencing. I poured out all seven of the rainbow colors for him and he got to choose which color would come next. He had to clean and dry his brush in between colors so that they wouldn’t mix. That all took a bit of instruction from me but we did the flower and the rainbow on two different mornings and the second time he did not need any guidance.
Create Your Own Rainbow Experiment
Materials: Reflective items, container, flashlight, towel & water (if using)
Prep: Gather materials and prepare an area for experimentation
Near the beginning of our rainbow themed week, I leaned conspiratorially toward G one morning and asked if he thought we could create our own rainbow… in the house!? I had found Lemon Lime Adventures blog’s idea for a rainbow experiment and I knew he would love it.
Together we gathered some reflective materials (CD, crystals, large marble, metal pin), a flashlight and a large baking dish. I placed a piece of white paper on the dish and a towel under that since I knew we’d be adding water later on.
First we looked at the beam of light and observed that it generally went in a straight line and was white where it shined on the paper. We then passed the light through the different objects to see if any colors appeared.
Some of the materials made the light reflect back to us and some bent the light — casting patterns on the surface of the paper.
Both refraction (bending) and reflection (bouncing back) are necessary to make a rainbow. Of the materials we gathered only the CD and cut crystal window decoration made a rainbow appear.
Next we added water to our work surface to see how that changed the way the light played with our materials (& hands).
As a last bit of fun we added some soap for bubbles — since where there are bubbles there are rainbows.
From there we went into full waterplay mode and G brought all his water toys out. which kept him occupied for a good long while.
Takeaway: This is a fun, hands-on experiment to engage toddlers in learning how rainbows are made. It promotes language development by introducing new vocabulary (reflection, refraction) and by using science language (experiment, prediction, observation). Use of scientific reasoning through telling the story of what they are doing with their tools, predicting the outcome — “what will happen if…?”, and observing the results.
Thank you to Lemon Lime Adventures for the original idea — https://lemonlimeadventures.com/how-to-make-a-rainbow-experiment-for-kids/
Rainbow Fish Scales Counting
Materials: Construction paper, pen, shiny tabs or stickers (we used some leftover pieces from a decoration that fell apart), glue stick.
Prep: Sketch out five fish and place materials on center fish.
After reading Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, I hastily sketched some fish friends and brought out some shiny circles from our craft cabinet for counting and gluing practice.
If you haven’t read the Rainbow Fish, it is a book about a beautiful fish who learns to make friends by sharing his most prized possessions — his rainbow scales. Our big rainbow fish started off with 11 shiny scales which needed to be distributed to the smaller fish friends. After G covered each dot there was one more left for the big rainbow fish. That really seemed to please him since that was what happened in the story too. As he glued we counted out each dot. Then mounted it to the fridge.
Takeaway: The work here is on associating amounts with counting and the written number, i.e. learning what two circles look and that two is more than one, etc. This was also great glue stick and fine motor work as those shiny bits were not easy to pick up.
Salad Spinner Paint Mix-up
Materials: Black and White construction paper, scissors (for adult use), paint (red, yellow, blue), salad spinner.
Prep: Place paint in squirt bottles (optional), cut construction paper circles fitted to the size of your salad spinner’s basket.
We love a controlled mess at our house and this experiment by Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds is perfect for some messy fun without a whole ton of cleanup. Helping spin the water off our greens is one of G’s favorite ways to help in the kitchen so the use of that material is just genius!
We set G up with all the materials on his table in the kitchen. We placed the paper inside the salad spinner basket, then he squirted in as much paint as he wanted (with limits) and placed the lid on top.
Then he pushed, pushed, pushed and got that paint really spinning.
Our end product wasn’t as nice as the pictures from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds — I think our paint was a little thick for this — but we still had some places where the colors mixed and we could identify what new color was made.
Then at clean up time, G got to see the real mess of colors that was created underneath while the paint was spinning.
We talked about how contrasting colors create brown and he had fun running fingers through the extra paint and scrubbing the bowl out at the sink.
Takeaway: This is an incredibly engaging way to get toddlers to experiment with color mixing and creating new colors. Good introduction to the concept of primary and secondary colors. Promotes independence and works large motor skills. And if you have the option — thinner paint is probably better for this activity.
Thank you to Teaching 2 and 3 year olds for the original idea — https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/toddler-color-mixing-spin-art/
Rainbow Geometry Wall Hanger
Materials: Construction paper, scissors (for adult use), paint, twine & clips (for hanging)
Prep: Cut out shapes with number of sides 1–7
We spread this project over a couple weeks where we would paint a shape whenever G needed a project, number them, and hang them on the wall together. I had pre-cut the shapes so it was a quick thing to grab a shape from our craft cabinet and lay out the corresponding color.
It was fun for G to encounter some new shapes and run his hands along the sides to feel their shape and to enumerate them. I’ve found that G will spend more time painting if the paper he’s working on is an interesting shape so this was a perfect project to get focused work from him.
Takeaway: This project teaches a basic understanding of shapes and promotes number and color recognition. The child learns that the number of sides is an important characteristic of shapes. As the child uses their hands and paint brush to explore the shape they may feel the difference between the curved and straight lines, and the angle where the sides meet. It is also a fun way to introduce some novel shapes beyond the circle, square, triangle variety and can be used for reference in future counting, shape and color learning.
More on what causes rainbows:
National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rainbow/
SciJinks https://scijinks.gov/rainbow/
Our Rainbow Reading List:
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Wonderful colorful images and illustrations of the different forms of plant starts — seeds, bulbs, seedlings, etc. The interior pages are cut to different widths to form a rainbow with their overlap which is fun for little hands to turn.
Vincent Paints His House by Tedd Arnold
A great read along book for youngsters with playful language that your toddler will love. This book is very repetitive and my son loves helping me complete the sentences while using picture clues to learn color names.
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
This is a beautifully illustrated book with shiny foil scales embedded on the pages. It reads like a fable and teaches the importance of sharing to building friendship.
Dog & Friends Rainbow Fun, Armadillo
Very simple book, good for teaching colors to the youngest readers and older toddlers too. Dog gets a new dot on each page from something he interacts with and sports a rainbow of dots by the end of the book. We ran into some friends on our way back from the library and the 3–7 year olds I read this book enjoyed using the pictures to guess where Dog got each dot.
Maisy’s Rainbow Dream by Lucy Cousins
Sweet book which follows a mouse named Maisy into her colorful dreams. Each page is a new color with lots of fun pictures for your child to look at and identify.
Silly Goose and Dizzy Duck Hunt for a Rainbow by Sally Grindley
The adventure of a goose and duck who want to dress up the goose’s rather drab brown nest with rainbow colors. They nearly get eaten and don’t end up finding a rainbow — but they do see a sunset. G thought this book was hilarious though the skit about the fox trying to eat the waterfowl duo went straight over his head.
LGBTQ+ Pride
We are seeing rainbow flags everywhere in our area this month! Businesses and homes alike are sporting the flag and inquiring 3-year-old minds want to know, “why?” Well for Pride month of course!
We’ve been reading books that present LGBTQ+ issues in a child friendly way. It is so important to have these discussions when they present themselves, because representation matters, inclusion matters and perspective taking can have a lasting impact on children’s attitudes towards others.
My Rainbow by DeShanna & Trinity Neal
This book is a wonderful celebration of a child in her totality. Trinity is a Black, trans and autistic child whose family helps her fully express herself by making her a rainbow wig. My child loved the illustrations which have lots of detail and depict the children doing everyday things like playing in their bedrooms and getting ready in the morning.
The Family Book by Todd Parr
Todd Parr’s books are always very colorful and this one is no exception. A celebration of families in all their forms, this book depicts families as loving, caring and special no matter their make-up.
Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
The art in this book is exceptional and the words are simple and sparse. My son and I had a lot of fun exploring the pictures together, describing what was going on and how people felt. I love the message that Julián will be loved no matter who he chooses to be and that his family will go a step further to encourage and support him.
When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff
Aidan is a transgender child who is senstive to the discomfort of being misgendered in early life. The story follows Aidan as he prepares to become a brother and welcome a new baby into his family. It is important to Aidan that the new baby feels loved and accepted for who they are. He and his parents are depicted in their preparations for the baby’s arrival, and reassuring Aidan that he already has what he needs to be the best big brother — a heart full of love.
What Makes A Baby: A Book for Every Kind of Family and Every Kind of Kid by Cory Silverberg
This book was recommended to me by a friend as a perfectly honest and simple way of addressing the “How are babies made?” question. It gives just the right amount of accurate information and leaves the door open for discussing each child’s individual circumstances of birth. The colorful pictures depict families of many different make-ups.
Colors of Pride by Robin Stevenson
A board book with a powerful message of unconditional love. The purposeful prose and colorful pictures of children celebrate their individuality and promise they will be loved for who they are. The final page explains the meanings of the colors in the Pride flag.
