Last Updated on February 14, 2024 by Sheryl Cooper
Inside: There are so many fun activities to add to the toddler and preschool rainbow theme. It’s a great way to expose young children to colors and color mixing in all areas of the classroom!
We love to explore the colors of the rainbow towards the end of the winter, when we are tired of all the white and grey. I get so excited pulling the colorful toys and activities from our storage room, setting them up in our classroom.
Every section of our classroom was involved, and the room got even more colorful as we hung our rainbow artwork.
When setting up the classroom for any theme, I always keep in mind how meaningful the activities will be to young children, how developmentally appropriate they are, and I make them as open-ended as possible.
My goal is to set up invitations to create and explore.
Make sure to scroll down towards the end of this post to get your free rainbow printables!
CLICK HERE to find our current rainbow theme resources!
Toddler and Preschool Rainbow Theme Classroom Ideas
Rainbow Sensory Bin
We added an assortment of items that are the colors of the rainbow. You can read more about it here: Rainbow Sensory Bin.
Related: Big Collection of Sensory Table for the Entire Year
Light Table
We displayed our window blocks and translucent shape blocks for some fun building and color recognition.
Related: Ultimate Collection of Light Table Activities
Easel: Can you make a rainbow?
We cut paper into arches and provided paint in the colors of the rainbow. I certainly didn’t expect them to actually create a rainbow, but to simply have fun mixing the colors.
Related: Preschool Art at the Easel
Writing Table
We also provided arch shaped paper and markers to create rainbows. I love the additional touch of marking the cups so that the children can sort the markers in rainbow order.
Related: Setting Up the Preschool Writing Center
Playdough
We provided craft sticks and match sticks in rainbow colors.
Related: 15+ Playdough Activities
Table Activity
I took one of our lap-sized white boards and put strips of colored masking tape on it in rainbow order. I provided a small basket of loose parts and invited the children to sort the pieces and place them on the matching-colored tape strips.
Dramatic Play
I was so excited when I found these rainbow tote bags!
Related: 25+ Dramatic Play Activities
I hung them on our dress up cart and then added laminated color sheets to the shelves along with matching colored play food.
A fun way to work on color recognition skills through play!
You can grab these free printable sheets in this post.
Blocks
I love to use the tops of our shelves for displaying books and such.
Related: The Best Block Activities
This bookshelf separates our circle time area from our block area. This week we had our rainbow arch blocks on our train table, as well as matching small blocks and vehicles.
Science and Exploration
We had color bottles and paddles available, as well as books about color.
Purple is not in this photo – the color had faded so it was time to make a new one.
Related: 15 Amazing Rainbow Science Activities
Details
I keep a tension rod in one of our windows to hang various decorations. At the start of the week we had a strand of white lights and a wool garland.
I added more see-through color panels to our window, as I documented on Instagram:
After we made our rainbow baubles, we hung them on the tension rod instead.
You can see how we made our rainbow baubles here: Hanging Rainbow Color Sorting Activity
Rainbow Suncatchers
One of our art activities with our 2 year olds was making simple rainbow sun catchers. We hung them in our hallway and door windows. I love the color they added!
You can see how we made them here: Vibrant Rainbow Suncatchers
Free Rainbow Printables
Click on each photo to get the pdf download:
More to read:
40+ Amazing Toddler Rainbow Activities
30+ Rainbow Activities Kids Love
Rainbow Books
- Happy Rainbow
- The Rainbow Snail
- Peacock’s Rainbow Feathers
- A Rainbow of My Own
- Planting a Rainbow
- Hello, Rainbow
Preschool Color Activity Plans
I am so excited to be a co-author of these color theme activity plans.
24 preschool learning activities for your colors theme, including literacy, math, science, art, fine motor, and more! A great resource for teachers and homeschoolers.
CLICK HERE for more information!
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