Building a Rainbow

The felt rainbow activity was created as part of our Noah's Ark theme, but it could be used for any activity involving rainbows or a simple quiet time activity.  The appearance of the rainbow in the sky forms the climax of the Noah's Ark story as a reminder of God's promise not to flood the earth again. I wanted the boys to appreciate the different colours of the rainbow and the way in which one colour blends into the next.

I found an image of a rainbow on the internet and printed it out and then used it as a template for each section of the felt rainbow I was making. As red is the first colour in the rainbow, I drew around the whole template onto red felt and cut it out and then I cut off the red section of the rainbow on the paper.  Then I used the smaller paper template (minus the red section) and drew around it onto orange felt.  I cut it out.  Then I cut off the orange section of the rainbow on the paper and drew around it onto yellow felt and so on until I had all seven colours of the rainbow in felt in sizes relative to the order in which they appear with red being the largest and violet being the smallest.  I laid the different sections out on the table in front of Wugs and demonstrated how the rainbow would be built by placing one colour on top of the other.

By creating the activity in this way, it meant that if Wugs put the wrong colour first (for instance the violet before the red), he would know as the violet would be hidden by the red because it is smaller.
To make the activity more challenging, I printed out the names of the colours and asked Wugs to identify them with the colours of the rainbow.

What we used:
Different coloured felt
Scissors
Paper
Printer
Laminator

As this activity was too difficult for Dooey (2 years old), I brought out our wooden rainbow and mixed up the different sections of it for him to build just as Wugs had done with his felt rainbow. The only problem with this rainbow is the missing indigo colour, but it at least gave him an idea of the majority of the colours of the rainbow and the order in which they appear.

Please click here to see our other Noah's Ark-related activities.

Hanging Up the Washing: Matching Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

With just two weeks to go before we move out, I decided to take advantage of the clear shelf space to set up this activity - a washing line with clothes (each marked with an uppercase letter) for Wugs to hang up (using the matching lowercase letter peg).   Everytime I take the washing out of the machine, the boys rush outside and "help" me hang it up.  Dooey likes pressing the buttons and Wugs is especially interested in the pegs, so I thought this sort of activity would appeal to them.

What we used:

Card

Coloured felt sheets

Wooden pegs

Cord (we used the stretchy type)

Black marker pen

I created the clothes by drawing on card first and creating templates.  Then I drew around the templates onto the different coloured sheets of felt and cut them out.  I drew the letters on the pegs and the clothes using a black marker pen.  I extended the cord across the length of the shelf, tying it at both ends.  (Be careful, if copying this activity, of the dangers of hanging cords or attach one end with velcro so it pulls away easily).

The weight of the clothes in relation to the weight of the pegs matters for this activity. To ensure the clothes sit vertically on the line and do not swing upwards, the pegs shouldn't be too heavy or the clothes need to be larger and heavier.  Mine were just teetering on the edge so I might re-make the pegs using slightly smaller ones.  

Colour Matching Wheel

As Wugs only naps once or twice a week, I've been looking for activities that will keep him entertained in the afternoons when he is too tired to go out, but still requires some stimulation.  I've discovered the wonderful world of busy bags!  They are activities that can fit into a small bag (usually a freezer bag) and can be useful in occupying children when travelling etc.  The colour-matching wheel is popular on the web.  I created this one by drawing around a plate, dividing up the segments and colouring them and the wooden pegs.  Then I laminated the wheel.  This isn't necessary, but I didn't fancy doing all that colouring when the inevitable will happen - some water or juice gets spilt on it.  This was a good activity to teach Wugs about colours and by using the pegs, he got a chance to develop his fine motor skills.

What we used:
White card
Felt tip pens
Wooden pegs
Laminator