Summer Learning: Rainbows Day 1

I know I'm supposed to be on summer vacation and take a break from teaching...but I can't help myself. Not when you have an inquiring and curious, almost two-year-old mind over here who wants to know everything! So, I dedicated the first part of my summer to writing a short summer curriculum for early preschool age. At first, I was going to do a "theme" for June and a "theme" for July. Seeing how our summer is filling up fast, I think I will just continue with one theme for the summer. It's ok though, because when you're talking about rainbows, you can incorporate a lot of learning and subject areas into that one theme.

Ready to get colorful?

I started today by preparing the snack while AB was napping. So, what's on the menu? Rainbow fruit kabobs. For this, you'll just need a fruit with each color of the rainbow, and some wooden skewers. Look how pretty they are...and very rainbow-ish.

Strawberries

Oranges

Pineapple

Grapes

Blueberries

Plums...yeah, yeah. They are red. In my defense, the skin is purple. I just didn't want to feed AB the skin.

They're easy and fun to do. The only thing I made sure to do, was to break off the pointy end of the kabob. It makes me nervous.

Today was a basic introduction to the rainbow and it's colors. This is a much needed lesson, because to AB, every color is green. We have to do something about that!

Here are the things I used for this lesson:

• A book about rainbows
• chenille stems (aka: pipe cleaners)
• craft glue
• light blue construction paper

I ordered the book, What Makes a Rainbow by Betty Schwartz. I had never actually heard of the book before I ordered it, but it is perfect for little learners and introduction to colors.

Each page talks about a different color and how it makes up the rainbow. When you turn the page, a ribbon for each color of the rainbow stretches across the top - very cool.

The last page is a pop-up rainbow.

 A big inspiration for this theme was actually a hand-me-down gift from one of the teachers at work. It's called "A Rainbow in My Room". It's a mini lamp/light that reflects a rainbow onto the wall or ceiling. We turn it on every night for AB when she goes to bed and she loves it!! They're about $22 on Amazon.com. Every night when we turn this on for her, she shouts out, "BAINO!!" So, not only is this lesson for learning colors, etc...but to learn that it is not called a "baino." (Although, it is very cute!)

After we read the book, we just played with the chenille stems and talked about each color. We compared it to the ribbon on each page in the book. We did this for a while and just played around - relaxed learning, as I like to call it.

When I created this activity, the goal was to bend the pipe cleaners in an arch shape and glue down with craft glue to make a rainbow. Sometimes I forget AB isn't five. No such luck, with a nearly two year old. So, I let her play, bend, and just go crazy with the pipe cleaners and glue them on however she wanted. Hence this wild creation.

However, that's what makes it so wonderful. It's her own rainbow and her own creation. Every color she would pick up, I would name and then have her show me where to glue it. It turned out beautifully, I think!

Oh, and remember the rainbow kabobs?

I'm pretty sure they were the best part.

*Obviously I've written these activities for very young pre-school age. It can be modified for older preschool kiddos as well. I have most of it completed in a word document. If you would like a copy when I'm finished, I'd be happy to share it. Just shoot me an email at livelaughlovelearnblog@gmail.com.