Feb 18, 20222 min read

Rainbow Themed Activities for Toddlers 🌈

Updated: Oct 1, 2022

The end of winter in here seems to drag on f.o.r.e.v.e.r. It has been too cold to safely go outside for longer than I care to be stuck in the house. So rainbows may have been a selfish theme choice, serving as a reminder that summer is right around the corner; but I'd be hard-pressed to find a toddler who isn't down to do all things rainbow.

We started with assorted water beads in a sensory bin. The girls (1.5 & 3) played with the beads, feeling how slippery they are, and scooping them from one container to another.

I try my best to stay out of sensory play. Especially at the beginning of the activity, I love giving kids the chance to play, explore and manipulate the materials without prompts. Once they start to get bored I will jump in to brainstorm / introduce new ways to use what they're playing with.

Eventually the water beads were separated by colour, which was the perfect segway to making a rainbow sensory bottle. She layered the beads by colour into a clear bottle. Her patience for this step was astounding so I didn't help at all. But if she needed help I would have offered her a funnel or help problem solving before doing it for her.

Next we added oil (cooking oil, baby oil, whatever you've got it doesn't really matter), then hot glued the lid shut. I love that this activity had a take-away item, it wasn't just a craft that we sneak into the garbage after bedtime. It's a great toy you can play with for months to come!

I prepped these colouring sheets ahead of time, they're nothing spectacular, but the kids liked them. If I do this again I think it would be so fun to glue cotton balls to the clouds. 3D crafts feel so fancy.

Here's my very fast DIY weather sequencing cards. We were having lots of fun talking about where rainbows come from while colouring their big rainbow pages; so I grabbed a note pad and drew some of the objects we were talking about.