Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

Playful Learning Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Rainbow Process Art with Toddlers

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Inside: What do you do with a large sheet of bubble wrap? Make rainbows, of course! Rainbow process art with toddlers is all about the action involved.

 

When we were exploring the colors of the rainbow, I decided to use the bubble wrap to make rainbow prints. Paint is rolled directly onto the bubble wrap and then paper is pressed on top. Once toddlers see what the paper looks like after it’s been pressed on the paper, they want to keep going!

 

What I didn’t expect was how much I’d love what was left on the bubble wrap, so I displayed it above our classroom window!

 

rainbow art

Rainbow Process Art with Toddlers

 

What you will need to paint rainbows:

Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

Setting up this rainbow activity:

 

  • Place the bubble wrap on a table. I taped ours down so it would not move.
  • Pour paint into containers.
  • Add brayers to containers.
 Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

 Invite your toddlers to paint!

Let them roll the various colors of paint onto the bubble wrap. We did not get concerned about it being in “rainbow order”. We simply wanted them to experience using all the rainbow colors.

preschool art

 

Have you ever used brayers before?

We’ve had ours for over 15 years, shared by all our classrooms, and they are still good as ever. Toddlers love to roll paint, and it helps strengthen the entire arm.

 

Make a print.

Once your toddler is finished rolling paint on the bubble wrap, hand him a piece of paper. Show him how to press it onto the painted bubble wrap. Let him pat on top of the paper.

Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

 Then, look at the results!

Have your toddler lift the paper from the painted bubble wrap. This is where the “magic” is. When they see what is on the paper, they just might want to do it again!

Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

Once all our toddlers were finished with this, I realized they had painted the entire sheet of bubble wrap.
Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

 They loved this activity that much!

 

 Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

The result:

This is how the rainbows turned out.

Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

But then I got to looking at the bubble wrap.

I just loved how the bubble wrap looked after being painted, and knew it would look great above our classroom window.

Toddler Rainbows on Paper

 

All the colors of the rainbow!

 

 
 rainbow art


 

More ideas for toddlers:

 

Toddler Color Mixing Spin Art

Driving Through Rainbows

Toddler Rainbow Suncatchers

 

 

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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 20 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

Comments

  2. Stephanie Schuler says

    Great lesson plan that costs next to nothing! My husband and I store tons of packing materials, so we might have to dig into our stash this weekend. I bet we would have enough bubble wrap for a few of my preschool classes!

  3. Jill Coleman says

    I love this idea, however I am wondering what type of paint was used on the bubblewrap? I’ve done this before and the tempera paint flaked off and crumbled all over the place. 🙁

    • Sheryl Cooper says

      Hi Jill! We used regular tempera paint. I placed it on the wall before it was fully dry, so it did not flake. However, it will probably do so when I take it down. The second piece we painted I let dry completely before trying to put it on the wall and the paint started flaking off so I abandoned that idea.

  4. Angela says

    So pretty!! Thank you for linking up at the Toddler & Preschool Moms Pinning Party!! I will be featuring this post and other rainbow posts tomorrow! 🙂