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You are here: Home / Colors / Fun Preschool Rainbow Craft that Builds Fine Motor Skills

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Fun Preschool Rainbow Craft that Builds Fine Motor Skills

March 20, 2017 by Sheryl Cooper

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Last Updated on March 5, 2024 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Let’s build a rainbow! This preschool rainbow craft is 3-dimensional and fun to build. Download the free printable to sort the beads!

I love building multiple skills with one activity. This fine motor rainbow craft for preschoolers does just that.

We have not only fine motor building taking place, but also color recognition AND math!

Recently I shared our rainbow color sorting sensory bin.

Our preschoolers were so excited to learn the order of the colors that I put together a 3-dimensional rainbow craft.

We then used this as a prop while reading the book “Planting a Rainbow“.

preschool rainbow craft

Fun Preschool Rainbow Craft that Builds Fine Motor Skills

What we used:

  • Rainbow printable (scroll down for the link to download)
  • Beads in rainbow colors
  • Pipe cleaners in rainbow colors
  • Small clear or white plastic cups
  • Cotton balls
  • White glue


Putting it together:

I sorted the beads and placed them in matching bowls. (Not a requirement. I just happened to have some on hand.) I made 4 copies of the rainbow sheet and put them in clear plastic pockets. (Can I just say how much I love having these pockets? No laminator needed and I can reuse them with other activities!)

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

I first invited the preschoolers to place one bead on the matching color on the printable. (1:1 correspondence is another important math skill for preschoolers!)

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

The beads were then threaded in rainbow order onto the pipe cleaner. (I bent the end of one side of the pipe cleaner to keep the beads from falling off.)

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers
Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

Once those were finished, I got the white cups ready. Each rainbow needs 2 cups, 1 for each end.

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

I poked a hole in the bottom of each cup and pushed the ends of the pipe cleaners into them and then twisted the ends inside the cup so they wouldn’t pull through.

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

The next step was brushing the glue on the cups.

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

And then sticking the cotton balls on the glue for clouds.

Fine Motor Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

When they were dry, we used them during circle time while reading Planting a Rainbow. As we came to each color in the book, we touched that color bead on our rainbow.

Free download: Rainbow Color Sorting Sheet

preschool rainbow craft

More ideas to try:

9 Fun Rainbow Activities

Make a Rainbow Mobile

Squeezing Watercolors onto Paper Towels

 

St. Patrick’s Day and Rainbow Books

My Rainbow Surprise

Hello, Rainbow

Pop-Up Peekaboo! Unicorn

The Itsy Bitsy Leprechaun

Lucky Little Leprechaun

Little Owl’s Colors

preschool rainbow props pack
tpt garden nursery dramatic play
tpt spring dot stamping

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Filed Under: Colors, Fine Motor, Learning Activity, preschool, Preschool Fine Motor, Spring Activities Tagged With: art, colors, fine motor, preschool, printables, spring

About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 25 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

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Welcome! I'm Sheryl Cooper, teacher of 2 and 3 year olds for over 22 years. Read more about me here!

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