Paper Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers

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With spring on the horizon, I have this lovely Torn Paper Rainbow Craft for preschoolers for you today, a great Spring Craft for Toddlers. This is part of the special Guest Post series, design to introduce new bloggers to you! If you enjoy this craft, be sure to explore more ideas by today’s guest writer Live Well, Play Together!

Rainbow Paper Craft

Note: Affiliate links have been added to this list of supplies for convenience. Should you choose to purchase via these links, I will make a small commision at no cost to you.

The great thing about this Paper Rainbow Craft, is that you can enjoy it all year round really – it is so joyous and happy. That said, I think it is a particularly cute Spring Craft for Preschoolers and of course makes a wonderful addition to any St Patrick’s Day Crafts you may have planned! We do love an easy rainbow craft here on Red Ted Art for both seasons!!

More about Live Well, Play Together

Hi!  My name is Mary Leigh and I write over at Live Well Play Together, sharing a little bit of everything as a homeschool mom to 3 active boys – from crafts and activities, books we’re reading, even some homemaking thrown in there, too!

I am excited to get to share this fun rainbow craft with you all today!  It is truly one of our favorites and we have done it again and again in our home with our boys.  It’s always a hit and so versatile.  I hope you love it as much as we do!

Paper Rainbow Craft Extension ideas

This little rainbow craft is super fun, as you can adapt it to your educational “needs”. There are two great ways you can make this craft:

  1. Scissor handling skills – where your little one can practice their cutting skills
  2. Finger strengthing skills – make it a “torn paper” craft and you can improve finger strength!

Both versions are fabulous for:

  • Fine motor skills (stick your paper pieces to your rainbow template)
  • Hand eye co-ordination (as you place the colors into the right rainbow arch)
  • Sensory activity (when you add the cotton wool)

And of course for:

  • Discussing colors
  • Sequencing colors to create the rainbow!
  • You can also introduce counting – as you count each arch of the rainbow

So lots of opportunities for working with your little ones.

Supplies needed for your Torn Paper Rainbow Craft

  • Rainbow colored paper/ construction paper
  • A white sheet of paper for your template (or draw your own)
  • Cotton Wool
  • Scissors (optional)
  • Glue

Live Well Play Together has an easy to access rainbow printable on their original post! Please do pop over for this and grab this sweet rainbow template:

How to make a Torn Paper Rainbow Craft

Before your start:

paper rainbow craft set up

You need to decide how much prep work you want to do yourself!! This very much dependent on:

  1. How much time you have
  2. What you aim to get out of this activity (e.g. scissor handling skills vs finger strengthening skills etc)
  3. The attention span of your toddler or preschooler (e.g. you may want to share the paper cutting prep)
  4. Your mess resistance (it is OK to not want a mess in your home!! The more you prep, the less mess you have!)

Once you have decided how much prepping you want to do yourself… you can get started! The general rule: the more prep, the less mess and the more you get done with your little one (ie the shorte the activity).

The Rainbow Paper Craft Prep Work

  1. Before starting, you’ll need to create a rainbow template.  I just drew a rainbow and clouds on a piece of copy paper for this.
    1. You can download my template here. (You will visit Live Well Play Together’s original post for this – it is a free download).
  2. Write in the names of each color for the different sections of the rainbow.
    1. This will allow your child to identify which color goes into which section.
  3. Cut each color of construction paper into small pieces.
    1. I recommend using a paper cutter to cut the pages into strip and then just cutting the strips into smaller pieces.  They do not have to all be the same size.

Let’s make a rainbow with paper

paper rainbow craft preschooler
  1. Cover one section at a time with glue.
  2. Stick the appropriate color pieces on the glue until each section is covered.  Some white space is fine, but each section should end up mostly covered.
  3. Move onto the next section until the rainbow is filled.
  4. Cover the clouds with glue.
  5. Stretch out (or “tear up” as my toddler says) the cotton balls and stick them to the glue.
paper rainbow craft toddler

I’ll be honest, I’m really proud of how this one turned out.  Little is proud of it, too, which makes me glad. 

Notes on attention spans for different age groups

I will say though, that we had to do this project in multiple sittings as Little was tired of sticking the paper on after the yellow section.  We put it away and he was excited to return to it later in the day. 

For preschoolers or elementary kids, I think this could be done in just one sitting.

And as always, my usual reminder for crafts at home with kids – it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Isn’t this just the most adorable Spring Craft for preschoolers? I love everything about it. A big thank you to our Guest Writer today! If you enjoyed today’s guest post, why not try out some more of Live Well Play Together’s cute crafts? Here are some great ideas for you to try out!

toddler activities

Do let us know if you have a go at this adorable Rainbow! Will your’s be part of St Patrick’s Day activities or simply a lovely Rainbow Craft?

You may also enjoy these Spring Crafts for Toddlers and St Patrick’s Day Crafts for preschoolers on Red Ted Art:

St Patrick's Day Preschool Crafts