6 Rainbow Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

Start here: three rainbow crafts that always work

Pom pom dabbed rainbowPom poms in clothespins, one color eachTorn paper rainbowTear, glue, nothing to cutPaper plate rainbowThe one most preschool classes make

6 rainbow crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

1. Paper plate rainbow

The child cuts a paper plate in half and fills the arc with colour bands in paint, tissue, buttons or pom poms, adding cotton ball clouds.

Collage

You need: 1 paper plate, red, orange, yellow, green and blue paint, cotton balls, glue

How to make it

1. You cut the plate in half.
2. Your child paints curved bands from the outside in: red, orange, yellow, green, blue.
3. Let it dry.
4. Glue cotton balls at each bottom corner as clouds.

2. Letter R rainbow

The child glues strips or torn pieces of paper in rainbow order along a big letter R.

Cut and glue

You need: white paper, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple paper, 2 cotton balls, glue stick, 1 sheet of light blue paper

How to make it

1. You cut a big capital R from white paper and 6 strips in rainbow colours.
2. Your child glues the R upright on the blue sheet.
3. Glue the strips across the R from top to bottom in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Leave the ends sticking out.
4. Glue a cotton ball at the bottom of each leg as a cloud.

3. Pot of gold paper plate

The child paints half a paper plate black as a pot, glues on gold coins or yellow circles and adds a rainbow handle.

Paint and glue

You need: 1 paper plate, black paint, yellow paper, white paper, red, yellow, green and blue markers, glue stick

How to make it

1. You cut the plate in half. Your child paints one half black. Let it dry.
2. Cut yellow circles as coins. Glue them along the straight edge, some poking above it and some on the plate, overlapping.
3. Cut a curved white strip and colour it in rainbow stripes with the markers.
4. Glue the rainbow in an arch over the coins, one end at each top corner.

4. Rainbow windsock

The child paints or wraps a cardboard tube, glues on rainbow streamers and hangs it up to blow in the wind.

Build it

You need: 1 toilet paper roll, light blue paint, crepe paper streamers in rainbow colours, cotton balls, twine, glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints the roll light blue. Let it dry.
2. Glue the streamers inside the bottom edge in rainbow order.
3. Glue cotton balls in a clump on the side as a cloud.
4. You make 2 holes near the top and tie a loop of twine through them for hanging.

5. Torn paper rainbow

The child tears strips of coloured paper into pieces and glues them in colour order to build a rainbow.

Easy for 3sTear and glue

You need: 1 sheet of white cardstock, red, orange, yellow, green and blue paper, cotton balls, glue stick

How to make it

1. You draw 5 light pencil arches, one inside the other.
2. Your child tears the coloured paper into small pieces.
3. Glue the pieces along the arches: red outside, then orange, yellow, green, blue.
4. Glue cotton balls at each foot as clouds.

6. Pom pom dabbed rainbow

The child dabs each rainbow arc with a pom pom held in a clothespin, one colour per pom pom.

Easy for 3sStamping

You need: 1 sheet of white paper, red, orange, yellow, green and blue paint, 1 big pom pom, cotton balls, glue

How to make it

1. Your child dabs paint with the pom pom to make 5 rough arches, one inside the other: red outside, then orange, yellow, green, blue.
2. Let it dry.
3. Glue cotton balls at each foot of the rainbow as clouds.

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Rainbow crafts for toddlers: the 2 a young three can do

These 2 need no exact cutting and no small pieces, so a young three can do most of it alone: Torn paper rainbow, Pom pom dabbed rainbow.

Rainbow crafts with a 3 year old: colors in order

Set out the colors in rainbow order on a plate before the child starts, so the order is already decided and the child only has to dab or glue. One pom pom per color in a clothespin keeps fingers clean.

A three year old can dab, tear and glue strips. Cutting the paper plate in half and the strips of paper is your part. A five year old can place the torn paper rainbow in order without the colors set out first.

Name each color out loud as it goes on. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple is the order most preschools use, and the letter R rainbow is the one to pair with the letter R.

The windsock hangs outside a window or on the porch and moves in the wind. The paper plate rainbow hangs from a string on the door, and the pot of gold goes up for St. Patrick's Day.

What you need for rainbow crafts

Most of these use the same handful of supplies: cotton ball, glue, white paper, glue stick, paper plate, red, orange, yellow, green and blue paint, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple paper, light blue paper. Everything else is named on the craft it belongs to.

More crafts for preschoolers

• St. Patrick's Day crafts for preschoolers
• Weather crafts for preschoolers
• March crafts for preschoolers
• Letter R crafts for preschoolers
• Spring crafts for preschoolers
• Crafts for 4 year olds
• Paper plate crafts for preschoolers
• April crafts for preschoolers
• All crafts for preschoolers, by theme, holiday and letter

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