Earlier this week, the boys and I had a whole day full of rainbow activities and experiments. The boys enjoyed learning about the colours of the rainbow so much, I thought I would extend it a bit further by introducing a rainbow sensory bin, and incorporating a literacy activity for M as well. I also want to highlight one of M’s favourite books he borrowed from the library this week: A Rainbow of Animals, written by Melissa Stewart.
It’s an interesting book, full of colourful, striking pictures, about many unique animals found around the world, which have been categorized by their colour in order of the rainbow. M LOVES this book, and requests it as a read aloud multiple times a day!
Rainbow Sensory Bin
Both of my boys have terrible colds, and the outside temperature today was really chilly, so I knew we would be staying inside all day. With this in mind, I thought it would be fun for the boys if I put together a St. Patrick’s Day/ rainbow themed sensory bin for them to explore.
Materials:
- rainbow pasta (different types of pasta dyed rainbow colours, using food colouring and a teaspoon of vinegar)
- rainbow coloured lays (found at Dollaramma)
- coloured straws
- coloured popsicle sticks
- foam shamrock stickers
- coloured feathers
- coloured pom-poms
- cotton balls (for clouds)
- green construction paper (for tearing)
- red tissue paper
- magnetic letters (to be used for a literacy activity later on)
- a magnifying glass
- paper towel tubes
- funnels
- a couple of bowls
When I first gave the boys the sensory bin, I just let them explore and play.
They really enjoyed all of the bright colours and interesting textures!
After about 20 minutes of busy play, I told M to start searching for the magnetic letters in the rainbow bin, and to place them in a separate bowl.
St. Patrick’s Day Literacy Activity: Building Words
Once he had found all 16 letters, we threw all of the other materials back inside the rainbow bin and set it aside.
I grabbed a cookie sheet, the St. Patrick’s Day Word Sheets I had made up earlier, and the bowl of letters M collected from the rainbow sensory bin. For each St. Patrick’s Day Word sheet I had M sound out the word (which was pretty easy with the aid of the pictures), and then build the word using the magnetic letters. M made the words: gold, luck, pot, and green.
I plan on leaving this activity out for M to go back to so he will become more and more familiar with these words.
For more St. Patrick’s Day ideas, click here.
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