TEACH PRESCHOOL SCIENCE
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      • Stems - Making Daisy and Clover Chains
      • Flowers
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      • Parts of Our Body and How We Use Them
      • Our Heart
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      • Fun With Balance
      • Sound Search
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      • Exploring the Sense of Sight
      • Follow That Scent
      • Stop That Germ!
      • Interesting Tools That Doctors Use
      • We Need Healthy Teeth
      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
    • Earth and Sky Science Index >
      • Shadow Chasing
      • Sun Effects
      • The Night Sky
      • Kinds of Clouds
      • Dressing for the Season
      • Classifying Rocks
      • Colors of the Rainbow
      • Who Has Seen the Wind?
      • Rain
      • Snow
      • Litter Hunt
      • We Can Take Care of the Earth
  • Teaching Notes
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Colors of the Rainbow


Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • ​Of course the best way to spark interest in a rainbow is to see one in the sky, but if this is not possible, then make your own. Hold up a magnifier lens so that a sunray shining through the window goes through it and separates into a color spectrum. Or set a glass of water near a window so that the sun shines through the water.
  • Catch a rainbow – reflect sun from a watch face lens and make the spectrum appear in different parts of the room. Chase it.
  • Set out some crayons or chalk in each of the rainbow colors, discuss the colors and experiment with them on white paper.

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • ​Sometimes we can see a rainbow arc in the sky, when sunshine shines though raindrops. This doesn’t happen very often. Most of the time when it rains, clouds are covering the sunshine. 
  • Sunlight looks white, but it is really made up of different colors. When the sunlight reflects off lots of raindrops (like a mirror), we can see all the colors.
  • Rainbow spectra always have the same 7 colors in the same order – they are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (deep blue) and violet. Sometimes indigo and violet are categorized together, as one color.
  • If there was sunshine and no rain, or rain and no sunshine, could we see a rainbow?

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • ​​Paint a rainbow on a glass door or window with thick tempera with Joy soap added.
  • Have available the 7 (or 6) colors using crepe paper streamers or curled strips of construction paper. Attach the ends to a paper plate (or similar) with staples, tape or glue. Use to dance, jump, run etc., especially outdoors.
  • Paint with liquid watercolors (on white paper) in the primary colors of blue, red and yellow. Mix them and discover new colors.
  • Blow bubbles outdoors and look for colors in the bubbles.
  • Rainbow myths (older children): leprechaun and pot of gold; bridge between heaven and earth; that a rainbow is “magic”.
rainbows

Activity Packs and Printables

Websites

Books

All the Colors of the Rainbow by Allan Fowler
A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Ann Schwartz
 I Know The Colors Of The Rainbow by Ella Jenkins

USEFUL LINKS

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This site is sponsored and supported by the preschool themes site www.KidSparkz.com
Activities written by (c) Susan Portman
Pre-K, Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Homeschooler - TeachersPayTeachers.com
Copyright © 2005-2021 Teach Preschool Science - Permission granted to reproduce for personal educational use only. Commercial copying or selling is prohibited. No part of this resource may be uploaded to, or published on, any other site for any reason.
  • Home
  • Lesson Plans Index
    • Life Science Plants and Animals >
      • Comparing Leaves
      • Exploring Pumpkins
      • Shucking Corn
      • Earthworm Observation
      • Parent and Baby Animals
      • Collecting Ants
      • Spider Season
      • Visit to a Pet Store
      • Living and Non Living Things
      • Animals Come in Many Shapes, Sizes and Colors
      • Ways Animals Move
      • Animals Need to Eat
      • Difference Between Wild and Tame Animals
      • People Can Use Products Provided by Animals and Plants
      • Animal Coverings - Hair, Fur, Feathers, Scales and Skin
      • Animals Live in Different Places
      • Metamorphosis and Change in Biology
      • Nocturnal Animals
      • Egg Science
      • Exploring Fish
      • Tree Skin Bark
      • Roots Growing Potatoes in Water
      • Stems - Making Daisy and Clover Chains
      • Flowers
      • Digging in the Dirt
    • Life Science People Index >
      • Parts of Our Body and How We Use Them
      • Our Heart
      • Our Hands
      • Our Feet
      • Fun With Balance
      • Sound Search
      • Sense of Touch
      • Exploring the Sense of Sight
      • Follow That Scent
      • Stop That Germ!
      • Interesting Tools That Doctors Use
      • We Need Healthy Teeth
      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
    • Earth and Sky Science Index >
      • Shadow Chasing
      • Sun Effects
      • The Night Sky
      • Kinds of Clouds
      • Dressing for the Season
      • Classifying Rocks
      • Colors of the Rainbow
      • Who Has Seen the Wind?
      • Rain
      • Snow
      • Litter Hunt
      • We Can Take Care of the Earth
  • Teaching Notes
  • Links
  • Contact