Activity 1: Making Bubbles

Activity type: Creation

Skills: Problem-solving, Science Understanding

Outcome: Outcome 4. Children Are Confident And Involved Learners – Children develop a growth mindset and learning dispositions such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

Resources:

bubble wands
bubble mix
pipe cleaners
shallow trays.

Activity Description

Children create bubbles using the mixture and materials provided at the table. The children use the pipe cleaners to create their own bubble wands. They can see how bubbles have a rainbow on the surface. What is the best shape to make the bubble wand? How much air do you need to blow to form the bubble? What colours are the bubbles?

Bubble mix can be tricky! While there are many homemade recipes out there, they often aren’t very effective because they lack the surfactants needed to make strong bubbles. Children often don’t have the patience to coax bubbles out of this mix. We recommend buying a concentrate in bulk and pre-mixing it a few days before you use it.

Activity Set Up

Use an outside table in an area with an easy-to-clean floor. Place the bubble liquid in shallow trays to dip the bubble wands. You might like to blue tack the dishes down before filling them to prevent spills. Provide the pipe cleaners to create bubble wands. Provide some sample wands.

Activity 2: Finding Rainbows

Activity type: Busy hands

Skills: Science Understanding

Outcome: Outcome 2: Children Are Connected With And Contribute To Their World - Children develop a sense of connectedness to groups and communities and an understanding of their reciprocal rights and responsibilities as active and informed citizens.

Resources:

reflective items such as old CDs or DVDs, prisms or mirrors
jars of water (so that a mirror can fit inside at an angle)
sunlight or a white LED flashlight
wall to reflect light onto, or a white piece of paper.

Activity Description

The children investigate rainbows by creating refraction using a light source. The torch is shone onto the CD and the light is reflected onto a wall or piece of paper to make a visible rainbow. Prisms can also refract light to create rainbows, as can the mirror inside the jar of water.

Activity Set Up

Set up the area with a table next to a large white piece of paper. If it’s a bright sunny day, outside is best! If it’s not so sunny inside, in a dark corner with the flashlight works best. Place the items on the table, CDs and DVDs shiny side up, prisms standing on their edge (already casting a rainbow if possible!), and mirrors either inside a jar of water on an angle or lying shiny side up on the table.

Mirrors and other reflective items should not be left in direct sunlight unsupervised. It is possible for the reflected light to start a fire if it is left in one position long enough.

Activity 3: Sign a Rainbow

Activity type: Moving bodies

Skills: SEL, Digital literacies

Outcome: Outcome 2: Children Are Connected With And Contribute To Their World - Children develop a sense of connectedness to groups and communities and an understanding of their reciprocal rights and responsibilities as active and informed citizens.

Resources:

device with internet access
Auslan Colour Cards (you might consider laminating for reuse).

Activity Description

The children learn how to use Australian sign language (Auslan) to sign the colours of a rainbow. They follow the movements as the song plays on the device. The children move their hands and bodies in simple movements while learning how to sign the colours.

Activity Set Up

Use an open space where the children can move. Set the device up so that the children can see it (a digital whiteboard or TV would work best, but an iPad is an option) and set the clip (youtube.com/watch?v=g5m3TLBmeuc) to play on repeat. Spread the cards with the signs out on the ground.

Sing a Rainbow - with all your Auslan signs | hey dee ho - (youtube.com/watch?v=g5m3TLBmeuc)

Activity 4: Rainbow Parade

Activity type: Imagination

Skills: Social-emotional learning

Outcome: Outcome 5: Children Are Effective Communicators - Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

Resources:

colourful material
coloured paper streamers, sticky tape and scissors
colourful dress-up clothing.

Activity Description

Children discover the world of colour by dressing up or creating a rainbow-inspired costume. This open play allows the children to connect with the colours of a rainbow and represent their own thoughts, feelings and ideas. The children are open to exploring ideas of play, creating a performance or holding their own parade.

Activity Set Up

Provide the costumes and coloured material in an open space. On a table nearby, place the rainbow craft materials to encourage the children's creativity. Provide mirrors for students to be able to see their dress-ups or a digital camera so they can take photographs of each other’s outfits. Create a space for students to show off their outfits. It could be a photo booth (and you could set up the digital camera for children to take their own pictures), or you could have a runway for a fashion parade.

Activity 5: Reading Rainbow

Activity type: Quiet time

Skills: Foundational literacy

Outcome: Outcome 5: Children Are Effective Communicators - Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

Resources:

books with a rainbow of coloured covers
bright-coloured cushions, blankets, scarves and/or material.

Activity Description

Set up an area with rainbow-inspired materials, cushions and blankets. Create the shape of a rainbow and place books along the rainbow or in a central place to encourage the children to spend time reading and exploring the books.

Activity Set Up

Place the blankets, cushions and fabric to create a snug reading space. You might create a rainbow arc from the soft materials for the children to lean against with the books inside, or you might make two groups of clouds and stretch the books in a rainbow arch between them.

Activity 6: Rainbow Chips

Activity type: Nature time

Skills: Science understanding

Outcome: Outcome 4: Children Are Confident And Involved Learners - Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another

Resources:

basket
colour chips (these could be counters, laminated squares, or paint sample cards.)
iPad or digital cameras if available.

Activity Description:

Children take a bag of coloured counters and try and match the colours with things they can find outside.

blue = blue sky
red = red leaf
yellow = flower petal, etc.

How close of a match can we get? Children can take photographs of their matches with the cameras. You could use these photographs in a later activity to prompt a whole class discussion about colour and differentiating between shades of colour.

Activity Set Up

Place the colour chips in a basket on an outdoor table. You could print off our example pictures to scaffold the activity, or you could place realia on the table, for example, a green lead with a green card, a yellow flower with a yellow card, etc.

Raining Rainbows: All Activities

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