With spring nearly here, I’m sharing this delightful Torn Paper Rainbow Craft for preschoolers with you today, a wonderful Spring Craft for Toddlers. This post is part of our special Guest Post series, created to showcase new bloggers to you! If this activity appeals to you, make sure to discover more inspiration from today’s guest writer, Live Well, Play Together!
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What makes this Paper Rainbow Craft so enjoyable is that it can really be made during any season – it is bright, cheerful, and full of fun. However, I feel it is an especially charming Spring Craft for Preschoolers and naturally fits beautifully among any St Patrick’s Day Crafts you might be preparing! Here on Red Ted Art, we’re always fond of a simple rainbow craft for every season!!
More about Live Well, Play Together
Hello! I’m Mary Leigh, and Iwrite over at Live Well Play Together, where I share a bit of everything as a homeschool mother of 3 energetic boys – including crafts and activities, the books we’re enjoying, and even a little homemaking, too!
I’m thrilled to share this enjoyable rainbow craft with all of you today! It is genuinely one of our favorites, and we have made it repeatedly at home with our boys. It is always popular and wonderfully adaptable. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Paper Rainbow Craft Extension ideas
This simple rainbow craft is incredibly enjoyable because you can adjust it to suit your educational “needs”. There are two excellent ways to approach this activity:
- Scissor handling skills – your little one can work on and develop their cutting abilities
- Finger strengthing skills – turn it into a “torn paper” craft to help build finger strength!
Both options are fantastic for:
- Fine motor skills (attach your paper pieces to the rainbow template)
- Hand eye co-ordination (while placing the colors in the correct rainbow arch)
- Sensory activity (once you include the cotton wool)
And naturally for:
- Talking about colors
- Arranging colors in sequence to form the rainbow!
- You can also add counting – count each arch of the rainbow as you go
So there are plenty of ways to engage and learn with your little ones.
Supplies needed for your Torn Paper Rainbow Craft
- Rainbow colored paper/ construction paper
- A white sheet of paper for your template (or create your own)
- Cotton Wool
- Scissors (optional)
- Glue
Live Well Play Together includes an easy-to-use rainbow printable in their original post! Be sure to visit them and download this lovely rainbow template:
How to make a Torn Paper Rainbow Craft
Before your start:
First, consider how much of the preparation you would like to handle yourself!! This depends greatly on:
- How much time is available to you
- What you want your child to gain from the activity (e.g. scissor handling skills versus finger strengthening skills etc)
- Your toddler or preschooler’s attention span (e.g. you might prefer to divide up the paper-cutting preparation)
- Your tolerance for mess (it is perfectly fine not to want a mess at home!! The more preparation you do, the less mess there will be!)
After choosing how much preparation you wish to do yourself… you’re ready to begin! The basic principle is: more preparation means less mess and a shorter activity with your little one (ie the shorte the activity).
The Rainbow Paper Craft Prep Work
- To begin, make a rainbow template. For this one, I simply drew a rainbow and clouds onto a sheet of copy paper.
- You candownload my template here. (You will be taken to Live Well Play Together’s original post for this – it is available as a free download).
- Label the different rainbow sections with the name of each color.
- This helps your child recognize which color belongs in each section.
- Slice each shade of construction paper into small pieces.
- I suggest usinga paper cutterto divide the pages into strips, then snipping those strips into smaller pieces. The pieces do not need to match in size.
Let’s make a rainbow with paper
- Apply glue to one section at a time.
- Place the matching colored pieces onto the glue until the section is covered. Leaving a little white space is okay, but most of each section should be filled.
- Continue to the following section until the entire rainbow is complete.
- Spread glue over the clouds.
- Pull apart (or “tear up” as my toddler says) the cotton balls and press them onto the glue.
I have to admit, I’m especially pleased with the way this turned out. Little is happy with it as well, and that makes me happy.
Notes on attention spans for different age groups
I should mention that we completed this project over several sessions because Little lost interest in attaching the paper after reaching the yellow section. We set it aside, and he was eager to continue later that day.
For preschool-aged children or elementary students, I believe this activity could easily be finished in one sitting.
And as ever, here is my familiar reminder about crafting at home with children –it doesn’t need to be perfect!
Isn’t this the sweetest Spring Craft for preschoolers? There is so much to love about it. Many thanks to our Guest Writer today! If you liked this guest post, why not explore a few more of Live Well Play Together’s charming crafts? Here are some wonderful suggestions to try!
Be sure to tell us if you make this adorable Rainbow! Will yours be included in St Patrick’s Day activities, or will it simply be a beautiful Rainbow Craft?
You might also like these Spring Crafts for Toddlers and St Patrick’s Day Crafts for preschoolers on Red Ted Art:
