Are you looking for an easy craft for toddlers? Long gone are the sunny days of summer as we are moving well into winter however brightly coloured rainbows are a great reminder of the warm rays that will return. As a tribute to this symbol representing finer days, we made an easy toddler craft - a Craft Stick Rainbow!
Craft Stick Rainbow
‘How is a rainbow made?’ asked Miss 5. Gazing up to the heavy, dark storm clouds that were slowly passing over our house, I explained to her how the light reflects off the tiny water droplets to create a beautiful rainbow. We spoke about the colours, primaries and their blends before heading into the craft cupboard to gather some supplies to make our own rainbow.
With only half an hour free before having to head out the door, this activity filled the time beautifully – with all the colours of the rainbow!
If you want to match this activity to a book I recommend A Rainbow of My Own - available HERE on Amazon.
What you need to make a Craft Stick Rainbow
- Piece of Paper (We chose blue to replicate a blue sky) - a pack of construction paper is great to have on hand for toddler crafts.
- Coloured Craft Sticks
- Cotton Rounds
- PVA Glue
We bought our coloured craft sticks from our local craft shop already coloured. If you have some natural ones you could always colour them in with textas or dye them by soaking them in diluted food colouring and water before drying them.
Cotton balls could easily be used instead of the cotton rounds. Cotton rounds are a good substitute for children with aversions to the sensory side of cotton balls.
How to make a Craft Stick Rainbow
Before gluing your craft sticks to the paper, lay out the colours in the order that you would like to stick them in. We mixed blends between primary colours and spoke about which colours mixed together make new colours. For example, yellow and blue mixed together makes green, blue and red mixed together makes purple.
Once you have your colours lined up, you will have an idea of the space they will take up on your page. Apply enough glue to your page that will ensure all the craft sticks will be stuck down.
Starting at one end, position the craft sticks side by side against one another.
Miss 2 loved sliding the sticks across the glue before resting them next to each other and got the knack really quickly!
Once all the craft sticks have been stuck down, apply a small amount of glue onto the cotton rounds before positioning the first row just on top of the craft sticks.
Overlap the second row of cotton rounds to create one fluffy ‘rain cloud’.
Both the girls loved this simple and effective Craft Stick Rainbow craft idea. It opened up opportunities to practice some colour recognition, fine motor skills, hand eye coordination and the sensory elements exposed us to conversations around textures.
The winter rains are a must for our gardens, wetlands and farmers but this friendly rainbow was a great reminder of warm, sunny days that one day will return!
If you enjoyed this toddler craft activity why not join our Facebook group for more fun toddler activity ideas. You can also follow us on Instagram - @myboredtoddler
Some more toddler activities that you might enjoy are:
Rainbow themed sensory play ideas for toddlers
About the Author:
Dani is a busy stay at home Mum of 3 and early childhood teacher in training who is passionate about play based learning throughout early childhood. For educational play ideas that you can do at home and parenting tips visit Play Inspired Mum Check her out on Instagram andFacebook
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