Rainbow activities are always a hit with kids, especially around St. Patrick's Day or in the spring when studying weather. They provide excellent inspiration for art and science activities.

Learning colors, how they mix, and how they join together to make a rainbow are so fascinating to kids. 

Then to learn that there are different types or rainbows...

Our Rainbow Activities for Kids with free printables offer so much!

Let's take a closer look at what we've been up to!

Rainbow Activities for Kids with Free Printables

Creating Different Types of Rainbows with Water Colors

Sunshine is familiar with what a rainbow is and the six basic colors included. Until this activity, she was NOT aware that there were different types of rainbows.

In this activity she would choose a type of rainbow. I would then read the description card that went with it so she could understand specifics of what made the rainbow unique. From there she would paint the type of rainbow using the water colors, paint brush and water provided.

Sunshine really enjoyed the types of rainbow cards and had fun creating different types of rainbows.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of the St. Patrick's Day Printable Pack.

Isaac Newton's Colors of the Rainbow Coloring Activity

As I mentioned before, Sunshine knows what a rainbow is and the six basic colors in the rainbow.

She was unaware that according to Isaac Newton there are actually seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

To help her learn the seventh color, I introduced her to the song, "Roy. G Biv," written by They Might Be Giants. We watched the music video which Sunshine LOVED!

Here Comes Science from They Might Be Giants

After listening to the song, Sunshine went right to town coloring her rainbow. I loved this activity for her as the rainbow color spaces were very narrow, prompting her to take her time and really focus on coloring in the lines.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of the St. Patrick's Day Printable Pack.

Rainbow Colors Addition Match Up

This activity introduces children to the concept of mixing colors to create new colors. Sunshine LOVED these cards. 

She wasn't a fan of adding the two colors and guessing the answer, as the activity was originally presented.

She was a HUGE fan of using the control cards to create colors using the colored water and dropper activity below, so we went with that.

Throughout the time that this activity was on the shelf, she made every color combination on these cards!

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of the St. Patrick's Day Printable Pack.

Rainbow Water Dropper Activity

This was Sunshine's favorite activity on our shelves. She could use it for hours and sometimes did.  

Sunshine would always first make a rainbow using the primary colors provided. Then she would pull out her cards from the activity above and make as many other colors as she could, before all of the spaces were filled up.

Eventually, we ended up adding clear water to represent "white" and water with black food coloring to represent "black" to complete all cards.

What I loved most about this activity was the fine motor practice it provided. The droppers and containers were glass, which encouraged Sunshine to slow down and be extra cautious. 

At first Sunshine struggled with understanding how to use the dropper and open the jars independently, but it only took a couple of days for her to become an expert, needing no assistance in this area.

FREE Rainbow Colors Printable Pack

Sunshine is very interested in improving her reading and writing skills lately, which is SO EXCITING to see. She loves writing and reading in as many ways as she can.

In following her lead, I created the FREE Rainbow Colors Printable Pack so she could practice reading and writing color names. I made sure that all labels were in black so the activities wouldn't be too easy for her.

Source: I created the Rainbow Colors Printable Pack. This is a subscriber's only freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions below.

We hope you enjoy these rainbow activities as much as we have!

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