I did this activity with three children at my daycare on St. Patrick’s Day. Since there were three of them, they each got to be in charge of two colors of the rainbow, which they were very excited about. Not only was this a fantastic activity for color naming and recognizing, it was great practice for listening well. When the children heard their color being revealed in the book, their little eyes lit up!
Materials:
- 6 Popsicle Sticks (One of each color: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple)
- Markers
- 2 Pieces of Paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- What Makes A Rainbow, by Betty Schwartz (Book)
Directions:
- With your help, have your child use a black marker to write the names of the colors on the corresponding colored popsicle stick. (i.e. Write “Red” on the red popsicle stick.)
- Using markers, draw a rainbow on top of a cloud on a piece of paper.
- Draw a duplicate cloud, cut it out, and glue it onto the borders of the other cloud to create a pocket, which will later hold the popsicle sticks. (I admit, I cheated a bit on this part and bought rainbow cutouts from the Dollar Tree for this part. If you can find premade rainbows, it is so much easier!)
- Have your child write the words “Reading Rainbow” on the cloud.
- Have your child hold onto the six popsicle sticks. With your child, read the story What Makes A Rainbow, by Betty Schwartz. As each color of the rainbow is revealed in the story, have your child identify the corresponding colored popsicle stick and slip it inside the pocket. By the end of the story, your child would have created a Reading Rainbow.