Rainbow Color Activities for Preschoolers

Preschoolers live life in rainbow color. The bright, bold colors are a natural invitation to explore and play. And where there is playing, there is a learning opportunity, of course! These amazing activities are sure to brighten the classroom as well as the students’ faces.

Rainbow Color Theory Activities

Students are full of natural curiosity, and this center satisfies that sense of experimentation! All that is needed for this center:

• Three large, sturdy containers full of water
• food coloring in red, yellow, and blue
• Small plastic cups or containers for mixing
• Eye droppers
• Some paper towels for spills (or a spill station!)

Here’s another easy way to set it up – ice cube trays! Learn more about this activity and color theory here!

Finger Paint Color Theory Activity

Preschool is a fantastic time for hands-on learning. And nothing is more hands-on than finger-painting! Part science project, part artistic expression, and part sensory experience give students first-hand experience with the science of color theory. Read more about it here!

Group the different color combination paintings in a little book and send it home to the parents for a keepsake! Enjoy a free printable cover here!

Rainbow Color Sorting Activities

Perfect for learning about nutrition, plants, farms, and more, this rainbow light table activity leaves students begging to “Eat the Rainbow.” Pictures printed on transparency paper might seem daunting, but it is easy to purchase for even inkjet printers! Colored tape or paper streamers divide the light table and allow the colors to shine through.

Rainbow Color Scavenger Hunt

This activity is easy to set up and requires only the items in the classroom! Start by laying out colored construction paper squares. Encourage students to sort things in front of them onto the matching colors or make it more challenging and have a color scavenger hunt! Still too easy for older students? Add different aspects, such as “only round items” or “find ten items,” to up the difficulty! Clean up is a breeze as well – simply assign each color to a student or group of students to put away.

Drawing Rainbow Colors

Sometimes all a child needs to spark their creativity is an invitation. Fun new art supplies – in this case, tempera sticks – and a model rainbow got students excited to draw their own. Blue watercolor with some cotton balls helped add a sky blue background to the bright rainbows!

Interactive Rainbow Bulletin Board

It might seem like a lot of work to make a felt rainbow, but it is incredible for learning. One way to use it is to provide felt items (like these from ArtFelt.net‘s “Make a Rainbow” set) and encourage students to match the items to the correct colors on the rainbow.

A Second Rainbow Color Bulletin Board

This easy sight word reading activity is excellent for all ages! Using the felt rainbow again, all that is needed are these free printables, some markers, and a little felt or velcro! Early readers can match the colored text to the correct location on the rainbow, while more advanced learners challenge themselves with the black and white text. After matching the words to the right spaces, preschoolers can check their learning by coloring, tracing, and writing their colors!

Fine Motor Practice with Rainbows

Little hands get a great workout at this inexpensive rainbow-making station! Pipe cleaners, craft foam, and beads make a cheerful center that engages students while reinforcing color knowledge. Read more about it here!

Rainbow Confetti

Another colorful way to work those fine motor muscles, rainbow confetti helps students practice important scissor and glue skills, reinforces colors, and even has some letter practice as well! Read more here!

Mouse in the House Color Carpet Game

Carpet games are a wonderful way to reinforce skills while having fun as a group! In this version, included in the Colors unit, a small mouse is hidden behind different houses when the students are not looking. They recite the chant and take turns guessing which house the mouse is hiding behind. Read more about carpet games here!

Don’t forget to add color to the Library!

There are always a lot of books about colors – be sure to add some fun titles to the library center. Here are some favorites in the PTL library!

More Colorful Resources!

Enjoy this video of Nancy Kopman’s song, “Rainbow” here on YouTube! That and more great music is also downloadable here.

Check “lesson plans” off the to-do list with this Colors unit available on Teachers Pay Teachers – newly updated!

Have fun learning and playing – in full color – with your students today!

---

As an Amazon Associate, Play to Learn Preschool earns a small compensation (at no cost to you!) from qualifying purchases.