Quick and Simple Rainbow Activities

We love rainbows at our house! It also makes any activity instantly fun! We used rainbows in these four fun and simple activities to work on colors, fine motor skills, and counting. These activities are perfect for kids of different ages. My boys (3, 5, and 7 years old) all enjoyed them.

Simple Rainbow Sorting 

This simple activity can be used in many different ways depending on your child’s age. Here are some ways the boy played with it!

Supplies

• White paper
• Red construction paper
• Orange construction paper
• Yellow construction paper
• Green construction paper
• Blue construction paper
• Purple construction paper
• Rainbow water pouring
• Tweezers 
• Colorful candies in each of these colors (we used Starburst Jelly Beans, Sour Patch Kids hearts, and marshmallows)

Steps

1. Cut your white paper into cloud shapes
2. Cut strips of paper, mine are 1in. It was the perfect size for our candy!
3. Use stick glue to glue the strips of paper under the cloud. Since my clouds were smaller I glued two strips per cloud.  

Different ways to play

• Color matching
• Work on numbers and colors. I would say 3 on blue and have them use the tweezers to put the candy on the blue strip.
• Add the candies on two strips together. I’d do the step above twice then have them add two of the colors together.
• For even more of a challenge, I’d say we have 3 red which one would we need to add to make 

Easy Rainbow Tunnel 

The boys love playing with cars! We have a whole bin just for cars. This simple rainbow activity was a fun way to incorporate cars into our activity. You’re able to work on so many different things from fine motor skills, coordination, and color recognition with this rainbow activity! 

*Fun printables that make everything simple, cute, and fun are from the Magic Playbook.

Supplies

• Cardboard for the base
• Red construction paper
• Orange construction paper
• Yellow construction paper
• Green construction paper
• Blue construction paper
• Purple construction paper
• Tissue/cotton balls (for the clouds)
• Glue

Steps

1. Cut the construction paper into 1-inch strips.
2. Fold the end 1 inch inward.
3. Put glue on the flaps and glue it to the cardboard.
   1. *Tip: I wanted it to go in rainbow color order. I glued it in this order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.  
4. Add tissue or cotton balls to the sides as clouds.

Different ways to play

• We used it for free play!
• Write numbers/letters/words on the cars. Call them out and have your child have the car drive into the tunnel.
• Call out a color and have them drive that car into the tunnel.

Quick Rainbow Beading 

The boys love playing with beads. I bought a container of beads a few months ago not knowing if it would be something they were interested in. They ended up making tons of bracelets. For Jake, the youngest, we gave him pipe cleaners to string them on. It’s a lot easier for little hands. Since we’re doing rainbow activities this month we made a simple rainbow out of pipe cleaners and playdough!

Supplies:

• Colored beads (we used red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple)
• Pipe cleaners (we used the same colors as the beads)
• Playdough (for the clouds)

Steps:

1. Make two balls of playdough, you’ll want it on the bigger thicker side since this is what will be holding up your rainbow.
2. Put your pipe cleaners in one cloud.
3. Thread the same colored bead onto the pipe cleaners.
4. When you’re done threading put the other side of the pipe cleaner into the second cloud.

Different ways to play

• Younger kids could just thread it.
• Thread it through for them and ask how many are on the pipe cleaner. Have them move it as they count.
• We used it to count. I called out a color and number and they put it on the pipe cleaner.
• Call out two numbers and add the number of beads total.
• Thread a different number of beads on each color and see which one has more.
• You positioning words, such as put the red bead at the end or green bead at the top.

Simple Rainbow Conditioner Fluff Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are either a hit or flop at our house. Although it doesn’t always go as planned I always try to add a few in because of all the benefits. Even if it’s a flop now in a few weeks it may end up being a hit! Also since I understand this I try not to put too much time and resources into it. I found this fun idea from Sandbox Academy. This simple Rainbow sensory bin was quick to put together. The beating of the conditioner filler was what took the longest but the mixer was doing all the work! In case you’re wondering this sensory bin ended up being a hit!  

Supplies:

• 1 ½ cups conditioner
• Water
• Food coloring
• Gold (I had gotten the idea to paint rocks with gold from Tiny N3rds)
• Tools to play with
• Container for it all (I have a bin from Target I use, you can use a cake pan or plastic container)

Steps:

1. Pour 1 ½ cups of conditioner into the mixer with the whisk attachment.
2. Add a little water.
3. Start the mixer on low as it starts to fluff up and increase the speed. Mix for 15 minutes.
4. Put some gold at the bottom of the container.
5. Scoop out a small batch and add food coloring.  
6. Fold the fold coloring it.
7. Add it to the container.
8. Repeat steps 5-7.
9. Add some gold to the top.
10. Have you kids find the gold!

The boys had fun finding the gold. After that, they went into free play. They liked the texture of the conditioner!

I hope your kids enjoy these easy and simple rainbow activities! They’re a lot of fun and an easy way to keep busy or spend time connecting with them! If you’re looking for activities to dig deeper and talk to your kids about being lucky and how to make others feel lucky check out this post.