Rainbows for St. Patrick’s Day

• Read “That's What Leprechauns Do” by Eve Bunting … what a cute story about three leprechauns on their way to bury the gold at the end of the rainbow. “No mischief along the way!” they chant, but of course, they get into plenty of mischief along the way.

 

• Gold at the End of the Rainbow Hat … here is a colorful hat (ready to print!) that the kids will love.
  1. Print this wonderful page from Kiboomu.
  2. Color!
  3. Cut out 2” strips from green (or any color) construction paper. Or mark lines for 2” strips and let the kids cut them out! Staple together to make a headband.
  4. Cut out the rainbow and glue it to the headband.
  5. Cut out and glue the shamrocks.
  6. Cut out the pot of gold and glue to the end of the rainbow.

• Rainbow Pasta … how bright and cute are these?! My kids will have fun sorting and playing with rainbow pasta! Visit Kiboomu for a great tutorial.
  1. Put 1/2 cup dry pasta in a ziploc bag.
  2. Add 1/8 cup rubbing alcohol.
  3. Add food coloring and shake until evening colored. Let the pasta sit and soak to get bright colors.
  4. Drain the pasta in the sink and spread on a paper-towel lined tray.
  5. Let dry (about 2 hours)
  6. Make a rainbow or even string them into a rainbow necklace!

• Paper Scraps Rainbow … love this idea from No Time for Flashcards.
  1. On a large piece of paper, draw a large rainbow.
  2. Rip up scraps of paper. I love how they used all sorts of different patterns and hues of the same color.
  3. Start by gluing one color to each rainbow section (so the kids know which colors go where)
  4. Let the kids work together to sort and glue the rest of the scrap colors to the rainbow! I love it!
  5. NOTE: I think after we finish, I’ll sneak a little Pot-o-Treats at the end of the rainbow during naptime as a surprise Probably something like this Pot-o-Gold treat above from No Time for Flashcards.
     • Fill a black cupcake liner with gold-wrapped candies.
     • Tie in a clear bag with rainbow ribbon!

• Snack Idea – Rainbow Fruit Pizza … one of my favorite desserts!
  1. For the crust:
     • 2 cups flour
     • 2 cubes butter, softened
     • 4 Tbls. powdered sugar
  2. Mix and spread on lightly greased round pizza pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool.
  3. For the spread:
     • 1 cup powdered sugar
     • 1 cup cool whip
     • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  4. Mix and spread on cooled crust.
  5. Arrange fruit on top in rainbow order!
     • red strawberries
     • orange mandarin oranges
     • yellow banana slices
     • green kiwi
     • blue blueberries
     • purple grapes

Rainbow

• Rainbows on the Wall
  1. Explain that rainbows are seen outside when sunlight shines through raindrops.
  2. Gather a pan of water, sunlight and a mirror.
  3. Let the kids play with these & try to make a rainbow.
  4. After they try, help them partially submerge the mirror, then turn it to face the sunlight. A rainbow will appear on the wall!

• Prism Rainbows
  1. Give the kids prisms and let them hold them up to the sunlight and make rainbows all over the wall. My kids have loved this.

• Rainbow Coloring Page
  1. Print the page above from Twisty Noodle.
  2. Color in a simple rainbow pattern to match the colors they see in the rainbow on the wall.

• Fruit Loops Rainbow
  1. Color a simple rainbow on white paper.
  2. Give the kids a bowl of Fruit Loops and let them glue the cereal by matching the colors to the rainbow lines.
  3. I usually help put dots of glue on the rainbow lines and they put the Fruit loops on the glue. I drew the rainbow for my 1-year-old but my 3-years-old liked doing it himself.

 

• Tasty Rainbow Necklace
  1. String the rest of your colorful Fruit Loops on a long piece of plastic lacing to make a tasty necklace snack.

Rainbow Jell-O Treat!

I love fun, cool treats in the summer time. This one takes a little time, but it tastes so good and looks great … especially with a big dollop of whipped cream on top! My kids love to help pour, mix and measure while we make this.

Rainbow Jell-O Treat

• 1 3oz. box of Jell-O (for each flavor) … strawberry, orange, lemon, lime, blueberry & grape
• 2 cups vanilla yogurt

1. Dissolve grape Jell-O (or any flavor first) in 1 cup boiling water (microwave for 2-3 minutes). Mix well.
2. Divide equally in 2 small bowls.
3. In one bowl, add 1/3 cup yogurt. Mix well with a wire whisk.
4. Pour into a clear, glass 9x13 dish & chill.
5. Add 3 Tbls. water to the other bowl, stir, and let sit outside of the fridge while the other layer gets firm.
6. When firm, add the clear layer & chill.
7. Repeat with all other flavors.

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I’m trying to decide how to do this for a 4th of July dessert …

I would do a few layers of red and white and a layer of blueberry on top. But how would you do the white layers. Does Jell-O come in a plain flavor?! Or maybe I’ll just do strawberry and blueberry layers with a big scoop of whipped cream on top for the white. Hmmmm. I’ll have to go check out the Jell-O aisle next time I’m at the store. Let me know if you have any ideas!