True story: Along with Radiohead’s Creep and Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Around the World, Kermit’s Rainbow Connection is one of my go-to karaoke jams.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F44HRvn8tiA]
So naturally, when it was my turn to host our co-op homeschool preschool this week, I wanted our St. Patrick’s Day lesson to include lots of activities with rainbows!
If you’re looking to infuse your fun with some St. Patrick’s Day luck, or get all rainbow-y on a regular day, here are some activities from me as well as links to additional ideas. Happy St. Patty’s Day!
Rainbow glasses Simply squirt a bit of tempera into glasses or jars and add differing amounts of water. Your little one can tap each with a metal spoon to hear the different notes.
Rainbow vegetable stamps Slice veggies—we used bell pepper, celery and broccoli—for stamps with different hues of tempera paint. The cross-section of a pepper looks like a clover when it’s stamped!
Bonus: The kids ate sliced pepper, celery, broccoli and cucumber dipped in guacamole for a very green snack in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
Read rainbow books We read A Rainbow of my Own by Don Freeman (beloved author/illustrator of Corduroy), and the kids at preschool were enthralled. In it, a boy tries his best to catch a rainbow, but it keeps disappearing when he reaches the place it’s supposed to be. He imagines a rainbow to play with instead—and is surprised when a rainbow of a different kind turns up in his bedroom!
We also red Leo Leoni’s A Color of His Own, coincidentally, because I love it and it’s all about color, too!
Additional resources:
A Cotton Kandi’s Life has an awesome homeschool preschool unit on rainbows, complete with ideas for fine and gross motor activities, book suggestions and breakfast smoothies.
Gina Kirk has beautiful rainbow fruit kebabs posted on her blog. I want to eat a rainbow, too!
A Night Owl has a tutorial for a super-simple rainbow cloud craft.
Best Toys 4 Toddlers has a round-up of rainbow sensory play ideas.
And if you’re looking for a science experiment engaging enough for toddlers, Inspiration Laboratories has directions for foaming rainbow eggs. (Yes, another use for Easter eggs!)
Let me know if you try any of these—I’d love to hear about it!
I love that Rainbow Connection is one of your karaoke songs! What a great list of activities for little ones. The vegetable stamps look fun for kids and adults!
Haha, I usually get some side-eyes at the bar for that one, but it’s worth it!
I like those vegetable stamps, too. Art and getting to love veggies — that’s a winning combination.
Yes! The more they handle veggies, the more willing they are to eat them.
What fun activities!!! And, a great way to sneak in some extra green veggies. I just want to come hang out at your place!
I love this! Such a cute craft project and one that doesn’t take a lot of time or clean up. I have to do it this weekend…. I’m glad it isn’t completely holiday related too because I suck at getting things done BEFORE a holiday. Ha!
Can I come to your preschool and play? This looks like so much fun! Seriously, I remember those days of “Pretty School” as one of my daughters used to call it – good times.
What a cool project! I’m so excited for Caleb to be older so we can do things like this! <3
Great unit! Thank you for including our post in your list!
My pleasure! It’s great to connect homeschool resources. 🙂