Rainbows and Color Theory Fun

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the last two weeks, we've spent some time doing things with colors and rainbows. (Because you all know that my 2 1/2 year old understands exactly what St. Patrick's Day is all about and totally embraces the holiday. More like, we like to do fun stuff and we need to work on saying the names of the colors. But I digress...)

Anyway, the first activity I found at Family Fun. Red and blue and yellow jello overlap and then mix for great color theory experiements. Like an ever changing stained glass window. (Click on the link for the complete instructions.) Not only is it a color activity, but it does help with sensory issues. (You can feel the squishy gelatin without actually touching the squishy gelatin.) And it's really fun to smash it up into little bits and then watch them run together as you hold the bag upside down.

The second thing we did was to make rainbows. I used a mirrored candle plate as a prism to refract sunlight onto the floor and walls. Kenson loved it. The rainbows moved over the floor, onto the wall, onto his hand...very interesting if you're two. Then we made a musical inspired rainbow toy, to wave when we listened to music. (Kenson loved shaking it and waving it when he watched Barney in Concert in the afternoon.) We tied lengths of rainbow colored ribbon onto a canning jar lid. I think I stole that idea from someplace online but I can't find the orginal site. (The idea behind this would also make great ponytail holders if you've got a girl. Just tie the ribbon onto a plain elastic ponytail holder.)