Toddler and Preschool Rainbow Theme Classroom Ideas

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!

Toddler and Preschool Rainbow Theme Classroom Ideas

Rainbow Water Beads Sensory Bin

We added some bug tongs for extra fine motor practice, and funnels for extra fun!

Light Table

We displayed our window blocks and translucent shape blocks for some fun building and color recognition.

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.

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.

Playdough

We provided craft sticks and match sticks in rainbow colors.

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!

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.

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.

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:

EXPLORING COLOR – Our 2 Year Olds loved standing on a small step stool so they could look out the window through our color panels. “Everything looks yellow!” “The trees are blue!” I love playful ideas like this, tucked in small areas of the classroom. Remember to use your vertical space for learning activities, too! Windows, walls, the backs of short shelves, lower cabinet drawers. This is especially important if you have a small classroom. Oh, and happy TGIF! I’m putting together free rainbow sorting printables and will let you know when they are available! …. …. #toddlers #toddlerlearning #iteachtoddlers #toddlerclassroom #earlylearning #littlelearners #childhoodunplugged #invitationtoexplore #playfullearning #handsonlearning #teaching2and3yearolds

A post shared by Sheryl Cooper (@teaching2and3yearolds) on Mar 2, 2018 at 12:20pm PST

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 look at:

15 Rainbow Science Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

9 Rainbow Preschool Activities

Our favorite rainbow books:

Planning your colors theme? We’ve done the work for you!

I am so excited to be a co-author of these color theme lesson 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.

24 preschool learning activities that cover

• Literacy
• Math
• Science
• Fine Motor
• Sensory
• Gross Motor
• Art
• Social Studies
• Music
• Circle Time
• Social/Emotional