Rainbow Themed Toddler School Lessons
By LAURIN BRAINARD Updated Oct. 18, 2023
Teaching your toddler about colors is so much fun! There are so many opportunities for learning about colors that you can work on as you go about your daily life. Even though my son already knows most of his colors, I wanted to create a week of learning that dove a little deeper into the world of colors. So, what could be better than a week focusing on the colors of the rainbow! I hope you will join us in learning all about the rainbow and the world of colors!
All of the plans and printable activities in this post can be found in my Rainbow Toddler School Unit:
Lesson Components
Each of the 5 lessons in this rainbow unit include the following activities:
- literacy/language
- math or science activity
- fine motor activity
- gross motor activity
- art activity
- recipe/snack
If you want to learn more about how to get started planning activities for your little ones, download my FREE guide for everything you need to know about the 6 skill areas we incorporate into toddler school:
Gather Materials and Set Up for Rainbow Week
Before beginning this fun week of learning, you will want to do some prep work to help your lessons run smoothly. The easiest way I have found to store our weekly materials in a folder. Just fold a large piece of construction paper in half and placing about 10 pieces of copy paper and 1 large ziplock bag inside. Then, staple the left side to hold it all together and paste a cover page on the front.
The first art activity in this unit is to have your child color this cover page to kick off the new unit theme. As you go through the week, paste all your child’s printable activities inside the book for a fun keepsake. You will also have several small items that are reusable, so you can place these items in the ziplock bag to reuse at a later date.
Art Activities
Here are 5 art activities you can do with your child this week:
- R is for Rainbow Coloring Page - Give your child all the colors of the rainbow to color with and review the color names as they pick up each color.
- R is for Rainbow Cereal Art - Glue rainbow colored cereal onto the rainbow in order of the colors of the rainbow.
- Rainbow Cut, Tear, and Glue - Give your child strips of paper to cut with kid scissors and tear with their hands. I find it helpful to start the cut so my son can easily tear the pieces of paper.
- R Sprinkle Art - Use liquid glue and a painbrush or small sponge brush to place glue all over the letter R. Your child will LOVE dropping the rainbow sprinkles all over the letter R. Don’t be surprised if he or she tries to eat a few sprinkles along the way!
- Primary Color Fold and See - Fold a piece of paper in half and open the paper again. You will paint on the entire half of ONE SIDE of the paper. First, paint a red stripe on the outside edge of the paper, yellow in the middle, and blue paint on the inside edge of the paper. Remember, only paint on one half side. Once finished painting, fold the paper back in half with the paint on the inside. Have your child gently rub the two sides of paper together. Open the paper back up to see how the colors have mixed!
Fine Motor Activities
Developing fine motor skills at the toddler age is so important. This week, you will learn about the letter R though several fine motor activities:
- Dot Marker Rr - Work on inside/outside vocabulary by telling your child to dot inside the circles. At this age, it really helps my son to hold a dot marker with two hands. This gives him more control over where the dot stamper lands.
- Q-tip Painting Rr - Place several dots of rainbow colored paints on a paper plate. Use a q-tip to dot inside the letters. Remind your toddler to go nice and slow so the paint stays inside the letters.
- Yarn Rr - Cut strips of yarn to make the letters. Place a bead of liquid glue on the letters. Hand your child pieces of yarn and point to where they need to be placed. Allow your child to independently place the yarn on the letters.
- Cereal Bracelet - Thread rainbow cereal, such as Fruit Loops, onto a piece of yarn. Tie it off and make a bracelet for your child to much on!
- Playdoh Rr - Trace the letter Rr with playdoh!
Math Activities
In this activity, you will work on 1:1 coorespondence by placing objects on pictures that match the number. First, show your child the number and say it’s name. Then, place a counter on each picture of the rainbow and count aloud. For example, tell your child that the first card is the number one card, so we will only place one counter. Do the same for the number 2 and number 3 cards. Allow your child to complete the activity several times so they can feel successful completing independently.
Once your child is able to place objects without a visual representation to copy, then you can increase the challenge by placing marshmallows on rainbows to match the number!
Sensory Activities
How do you make green? How do you make purple? Do these questions sound familiar? If so, hopefully this activity will help your child remember the answers to their own questions through a sensory activity!
To set up the sensory play station, combine two primary colors in a quart size zip-lock bag. Place a piece of tape at the top to make sure it does not open and leak. Then, give your child the opportunity to press the colors together to create new colors!
Once the colors are mixed, press your finger onto the bag to draw. You can draw shapes, letters, numbers, and anything else that interests your child.
For a second color mixing activity, place red, yellow, and blue food coloring and water into individual small cups. Give your child a small dropper and some empty cups to squeeze the water into. Discuss the names of the colors as your child transfers water into a new cup. Once two colors have been mixed, ask your child the name of the new color.
Gross Motor Activities
Two of our favorite activities from this unit were the color hop and color maze!
To set up the color hop, draw colored circles and have your child hop from one to the next. Each time your child lands on a color, ask your child the name of the color.
To set up the color maze, draw colored lines that intercept. To complete the maze, have your child follow each colored line from beginning to end. Don’t forget to model the activities for your child. Playing with your child will make these activities so much more fun!
Continue the Fun With Your Toddler
Be sure to check out my Rainbow Toddler School Activities in my shop for all the printables, recipes, lesson plans, and instructions you will need to complete a full week of learning about the colors in the rainbow.
I hope you have a wonderful day playing and learning with your little ones! Feel free to send me a message on Instagram @theprimarybrain with any questions you have about how to teach your little ones!
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my affiliate links, which helps to support The Primary Brain blog. As always, I only recommend products that I love and all ideas shared are my own.
Written on October 14th, 2018 by Laurin Brainard