Summer: Rainbows

This week is all about the beautiful colors of the rainbow! Some of my fondest memories of summer were of chasing rainbows after an evening rainstorm. Let's jump into what this week has to offer:

Suggested Book List-Try to find these at your local library!

• Did You Know? The Rainbow Edition by Sherry Stone Yetter

• How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow by Monica Sweeney

• Mixed by Arree Chung

Activities

Stomp and Splash Sidewalk Rainbow- Sprouts (ages 2-5) Create a colorful rainbow on your sidewalk while also developing gross motor skills.

Materials

• Washable Paint in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple

• Water

• 6 sandwich-size plastic zip-lock bags

• A Straw

• Medium plastic bin

Prep

1. Add a generous squirt of paint and about a cup of water to a zip-lock bag. Place a straw inside the bag and seal the baggy around it.

2. Inflate the bag by blowing through the straw. Pull the straw out and quickly seal the bag.

3. Shake the bag to mix the paint and water, and set it aside in a plastic bin. Repeat this with all of the colors.

Steps

1. Place the paint-filled bags on the sidewalk or a flat outdoor surface in order of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

2. Have your child STOMP on the bags in rainbow order, popping them and splashing the paint to make a messy but beautiful rainbow. Encourage your child to shout each color as he/she stomps!

3. Fill them again (if they did not break) and lay the colors out in random order, then call out a color for your child to find and STOMP!

(Bonning-Gould et al., 2019)

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Rainbow Flower Threading Board -Blossoms (ages 5-9): Create a rainbow using flowers/plants from your own backyard! Follow this link for pictures and examples: https://littlepinelearners.com/rainbow-flower-threading-board/

Materials

• Access to an assortment of flowers/plants that you can pick

• Cardboard cut in the shape of a rainbow (adult may need to help)

• Sharp pencil for poking holes

Prep

1. Prepare your rainbow threading board: Using the sharp pencil, poke holes in your cardboard that are big enough to thread a stem through.

Steps

***PLEASE ONLY PICK FLOWERS THAT YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO PICK***

1. Carefully pick flowers, leaving about an inch or two of stem. Carefully poke the stem through a hole in the threading board. Try to arrange the flowers to replicate a rainbow by using one color at a time, starting at the bottom of one end of the threading board to the other in an arch (see website above for picture examples).

2. Repeat this process using different colored flowers that you find. It's okay if you can't find all of the colors of the rainbow! Just use what you can!

(Tara, 2020)

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Outdoor Adventure Bucket List

***PLEASE REMEMBER to modify these for your child's age and always do with adult supervision and permission!***

• Find a Young Bird- Listen closely for the sounds of chirping and look up towards the trees! You might be able to spot a nest with baby birds waiting for food.

• Make a Wish on a Dandelion- Pick a fluffy dandelion, make a wish, take a deep breath, and blow! Legend has it that if you can blow off every last piece of fluff, then your wish will come true!

• Try Outdoor Yoga: Clear your mind and enjoy the moment with a few yoga poses in your favorite outdoor space. Have an adult look up some Yoga poses if you don't know any off the top of your head and do your best!

(Tornio et al., 2013)

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Sources

Bonning-Gould, K., & Rosenberg, N. S. (2019). In The outdoor toddler activity book: 100+ fun early learning activities for outside play (p. 22-23). essay, Rockridge Press.

Tara. (2020, December 31). Rainbow Flower Threading Board • Little Pine Learners. Little Pine Learners. https://littlepinelearners.com/rainbow-flower-threading-board/.

Tornio, S., Keffer, K., & Riordan, R. (2013). In The kids' outdoor adventure book: 448 great things to do in nature before you grow up (pp. 51–52). essay, Falcon Guides.