April 3 – Find a Rainbow Day

Double-alaskan-rainbow

Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to find a real rainbow on this day, but if not, there are plenty of ways to make a rainbow yourself. Blow bubbles and look for rainbows in them, or weather permitting, spray the garden hose and make your own rainbow. You can also shine a flashlight through a glass of water. Enjoy rainbow day!

Books & Videos
Rainbows Rainbows by Dana Meachen Rau
Provides a basic introduction to rainbows, including how and when they are formed
What Makes A Rainbow What Makes A Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz
A rainbow of ribbons magically appear when you open the pages of this innovative book! Toddlers will love listening to the charming story and seeing a different colored ribbon with the turn of each page. The last page is sure to delight with all the colors of the rainbow. What a fun way to learn colors!
A Rainbow of My Own A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
A small boy imagines what it would be like to have his own rainbow to play with.

Make A Rainbow
This is an exciting experiment to make your own rainbow! All you need is light and water! Light is made up of the colors of the rainbow, and when light rays are bent, they separate into rainbow colors. Water helps bend the light. This is called refraction.
 rainbow flashlight
What You’ll Need:
  • Flashlight
  • Glass container (large vase works well)
How To Make:

1. Fill up the glass container 3/4 full.

2. In a dark room, shine the flashlight through the water in the container onto the wall.

3. It may take a little experimenting to find the rainbow. I found it worked best to shine the flashlight from the bottom of the container and out of the top of the water. If you can’t get the rainbow, try moving the flashlight back and forth and at different angles. (You can also try placing a mirror in the water at an angle, and reflecting the light back at a white piece of paper.)

Note: you can also make a rainbow using a garden hose outside, weather permitting!

Rainbow Mobiles
Bring on Spring with these rainbow mobiles that you can hang by a window.
Rainbow MobilesRainbow Mobiles
What You’ll Need:
  • White paper plate or thick cardstock
  • Paints (I like Do-A-Dots!)
  • Cotton balls
How To Make:

1. Paint a rainbow on half of a paper plate (or cut a semi-circle from cardstock).

2. Glue cotton balls on the bottom of the rainbow.

3. Punch a hole in the top and hang your rainbow creation! Bring on Spring!

Rainbow Snacks
Arrange of rainbow of snacks for your child. I arranged them onto a skewer for a classroom snack for St. Patrick’s Day (with some muffins sprayed with gold), but this isn’t necessary for at home!
Rainbow Snacks
What You’ll Need:
  • Red – Raspberries, strawberries, etc.
  • Orange – Oranges, cheese, goldfish, etc.
  • Yellow – Pineapple, banana, etc.
  • Green – Honeydew, kiwi, grapes, etc.
  • Blue – Blueberries
  • Purple – Grapes
How To Make:

Have fun munching on a rainbow of snacks!

Recent Posts