Rainbow Unit/Theme - Printables, lessons, ideas, & more!

Rainbow Unit

Spring is a great time to study weather. Children think
rainbows are magical things. They will love learning about rainbows and
working on related activities. Below you will find some of my favorite activities,
great books to match this unit, printables, and much more. Now put down your umbrella
and enjoy the "rainbow" of ideas found on this page!!!

Updated - Feb. 20th 2003

My Favorite Rainbow Activities

RAINBOW ARCS
Remove the wrappers from rainbow-colored crayons: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Let your students use the sides of the crayons to draw rainbow arcs on paper. Or, if the weather is good, invite them to make rainbows on a sidewalk with colored chalk. Another idea is to,
tape six different colored crayons in a straight line. Show your students how to draw a rainbow with one stroke.

RAINBOW PASTA GAMES
Dye stringable pasta in batches of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Let your children use the pieces for activitiesuch as:
*Glue on white paper to make a rainbow.
*Sort and count the pasta pieces by color.
*Place or glue the pieces on matching colored paper.

MAKING RAINBOWS
On a sunny day, place a small mirror in a glass bowl of water so that the mirror rests against the side of the bowl. Set the bowl in direct sunlight.
You can find a prism at many science stores or teachers store. Show your child the prism, and how to see all the colors of a rainbow in the prism.

RAINBOW JELLO
Make rainbow jell-o. Begin with red and pour into a large bowl. Each day add a new color until you have all the rainbow colors.

MILK RAINBOWS
Provide every child with a shallow container of milk. Place a couple drops of different food coloring in the milk. Next have the child dip a toothpick into a little dish soap and then dip it into the milk. What happens? Try it again!

TASTE A RAINBOW
Provide three identical jars with pre-counted Skittlesof 20, 50, and 80. Label these jars 20, 50 and 80. Place 65 (Shh!!! Keep this a secret) Skittles in a fourth identical jar. Allow the children to examine all four jars before they guess how many is in the fourth jar. Record the children's approximations. Discuss with the class how they came up with their numbers. For instance, Johny may say: "I guessed 60 because this jar had more than the jar of 50 and less than the jar of 80." Count the Skittles. The students love this and you will be happy to hear them think aloud about math problem solving!!!!

Great Ideas Found on Our CDROM # 3

Click Here to learn more.

Rainbow Race Student Game

- You supply a dice with six colors (you can buy a wooden cube at a craft store and color each side). Your students roll the dice and place an x in the correct column. They play till a color wins. They then answer questions about their race.
An activity sheet for this game is provided on our CDROM!

The Colors of the Rainbow

This includes sentences strips for your pocket chart. The strips are in color and include pictures to make the text easy to read. You can use this as a center. Place the strips in a pocket chart along with our center sheet that matches this. The center sheet in in black and white. The student write the color word in the blank and then colors the pictures to match the text. When they are finished they cut apart the strips, staple in the corner and take home a little book.

This is free to print from Teaching is a Work of Heart
1.) Rainbow sentence strips - these are sentences in color with graphics. They may be used in a pocket chart or other.
2.) Activity sheet - after the student reads the center - they use the center to help them make their own book.

Raindrop Contraction Center

this includes all the manipulatives - teacher prints, laminates, and cuts. You can store these in baggies that students take back to their desk or in a pocket chart. You may choose to give a set to each student or use as a group activity. The student must match the raindrop to the umbrella.(1-3) If you do not have the CDROM, you can create a center like this. Find a die cut of an umbrella and raindrop. Place a match problem on the raindrop and the answer on the umbrella. Have the sudents match.

Umbrella Count by 5's Centers

Place umbrellas with counts by fives in a baggie. The student places the umbrellas in the correct order to complete the center.

These are just a few over 200 printables found on our January Through June Primary Teacher Timesavers CDROM. Check it out and Click Here to learn more!!!! Over 100 happy teachers have purchased!!!

Rainbow Color Songs

These songs will help you students spell the colors of the rainbow.

Red (Three Blind Mice)

R-e-d, r-e-d, red is the word, red is the word,
Apples and strawberries both are red,
Tomatoes and cherries both are red,
Do you know how to spell that word red?
R-e-d, r-e-d.

Orange (The Wheels on the Bus)

The pumpkins in my garden are orange, orange, orange
Ora-nge
The pumpkins in my garden are orange, orange orange
Ora-nge.

Yellow (Mary Had a Little Lamb)

Y-e-l-l-o-w
I can spell yellow now
Y-e-l-l-o-w
Yellow like the sun.

Green (Mary Had a Little Lamb)

G-r-e-e-n spells green,
Like a frog, like a tree,
G-r-e-e-n spells green
Just like broccoli!

Blue (Frere Jacques)

B-l-u-e, b-l-u-e
That spells blue, that spells blue
Like the color of the sky,
Like the color of the sea
B-l-u-e, b-l-u-e.

Purple (This Old Man)

Pur-ple spells the color purple, see-
Like the grapes on a vine,
Or some plums on a tree.

Under the Rainbow
(tune: Up on the Housetop)

First comes the rain cloud passing by

Dropping raindrops in my eye!

Then comes the sunshine up so high

Now a rainbow in the sky!

Yea-Yea-Yea-who wouldn't go?

(author unknown)

Oh, Rainbow

(to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree")

Oh, rainbow, oh, rainbow,
How lovely are your colours.
Oh, rainbow, oh, rainbow,
How lovely are your colours.
Purple, red and orange, too,
Yellow, green and blue so true.
Oh, rainbow, oh, rainbow,
How lovely are your colours

Rainbow Song

Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
You can sing one too!

Listen with your eyes,
Listen with your eyes,
And sing everything you see.
You can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a long with me.

Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
You can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Now you've sung one too!

If you want to see a rainbow
(sung to If your happy and you know it)
If you want to see a rainbow, check the sky.
Just as its raining, look up high.
With the sun behind your back,
you will see the colors stacked.
Oh, I love to see a rainbow in the sky!

Literature Activites

Rainbow of My Own

A Rainbow Of My Own by Don Freeman Prereading

Pre-Reading: Ask the students if they have ever seen a rainbow?
What did it look like?
When did you see it?
How many colors did you see?

My Rainbow Read the book A Rainbow of My Own to your class. After reading it and discussing rainbows allow the children to create rainbow marble paintings. 1.) Place a piece of blue paper in a tray. 2.) Apply small spoonfuls of paint, one for each color of the rainbow, in various places on the paper. 3.) Place a marble on the tray. 4.) Have the children tilt the tray. Now they have their own rainbow!

What Makes a Rainbow?: Pop-Up

After reading What Makes a Rainbow, have children make these fun rainbow mobiles to help reinforce the colors.
Supplies: Cloud shape drawn on white paper , white cotton balls, strips of 6 colored construction paper, glue, scissors, paper punch, string
Have students cut out the cloud shape and punch holes on top, tie string to it, to hang it by. Glue colored strips of paper to the back side of cloud.

Great Rainbow Ideas- This comes from the kinderteacher.com It is filled with great ideas. Many of the ideas include pictures. You'll love this page!	Awesome Rainbow Crafts This enchanted learning page is fantastic. Filled with great rainbow ideas!
Great Background Info. For Teachers Read this page before you start your unit!	ChildFun Rainbow Ideas Various ideas for crafts, recipes, games, and poems!
A Rainbow of Color Gota love all of the ideas at KinderKorner. Victoria does a great job on her units!	DLK's Great Rainbow Page Wonderful Recipes and Crafts!

Bry-Back Manor: Color The Rainbow Activity Sheet	Rainbow Brite Paper Doll
Rainbow Coloring Pages	Color Concentration Game
Beginning Sounds	Page 10, 11, 12 - This is a PDF file. On the pages you will find a rainbow tally sheet and a mini book.
This is free to print from Teaching is a Work of Heart 1.) Rainbow sentence strips - these are sentences in color with graphics. They may be used in a pocket chart or other. 2.) Activity sheet - after the student reads the center - they use the center to help them make their own book.	Paint The Rainbow by Number
ABC TEACH Color Printables