Rainbow activities inspired by At the End of the Rainbow by A. H. Benjamin & John Bendall-Brunello

Can Badger and Fox find the treasure at the end of the rainbow? Does it even exist? At the End of the Rainbow is a lovely story about friendship and treasure and has inspired many crafts, learning activities, discussions and even a birthday party!

The Story: Badger and Fox have heard there is treasure at the end of the rainbow. They’re not sure what treasure is (although Badger thinks it will make them rich!) so they decide to try and find it. On their way to the end of the rainbow they come across Squirrel and his treasure, Mother Duck and her treasure and Old Hare and his treasure. Their treasure isn’t gold or silver and as Fox and Badger shelter from the rain they realise that treasure is something special that makes you happy. The rainbow reappears after the rain stops but Badger and Fox are too busy appreciating their new treasure to notice.

Author: A.H. Benjamin / Illustrator: John Bendall-Brunello

Rainbows provide great learning opportunities and activities in many curriculum areas. At the End of the Rainbow can stimulate discussion and creative writing about what children think could be at the end of a rainbow and what treasure means to them. Children can write or draw pictures about their treasures.

Rainbows are lovely to include in a topic on weather. To make a rainbow weather hat cut a thick strip of card for the headband. Glue five strips of coloured paper together to make a rainbow then staple it onto the headband. Add a picture of the sun and some cotton wool clouds and your headband is ready to wear. When I made this with a group of children one of them brought in strips of silver tinsel to stick under the headband to make ‘rain’ hair.

I have used this template as a basis for many rainbow crafts. Painting or colouring it helps children to consolidate their understanding of the order of the colours of the rainbow. This hanger is easy to make using using thick card, finger paints and cotton wool balls for the clouds. You can introduce the primary colours with this activity and invite children to mix paints to make orange, green, indigo and violet before continuing with further colour mixing experiments.

Finger paint, colour or paint the rainbow template then cut it out and stick it onto blue paper to create a weather picture. Discussing how rainbows are formed can lead to a fun rainbow making experiment (but you do need to wait until a day when the sun shines!). Children can give their theories, opinions and answers to the question ‘How are rainbows formed?‘. Then fill glasses of water and stand them on white paper. Watch what happens when the sun shines through the glass and ask children to explain what they think is happening.

This is a fun craft that uses a thin canvas board, crepe paper and water. Children tear different coloured crepe paper into small pieces, arrange them in a rainbow shape on the canvas then spray them with (not too much!) water using a plant sprayer. Leave the picture to dry overnight then peel off the crepe paper. The colour bleeds onto the canvas to make a rainbow.

For a rainbow birthday cake, slice through a round cake then spread a thin layer of icing or butter cream onto each semicircle before decorating it with fruit or Smarties in a rainbow pattern. Rainbow food plates are fun for parties too. They always look so appetising and are really healthy. We’ve used the following fruits and vegetables (and cheese!) for ours but would love to hear any other suggestions.

• Red: baby tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, peppers, cranberries, apples, cherries, dried cranberries
• Orange: carrots, oranges, peppers, satsumas, clementine, kumquats, apricots, mandarin oranges, physalis, dried apricots
• Yellow: bananas, peaches, sweetcorn, pineapple, grapefruit, cheese cubes
• Green: grapes, cucumber, celery, apple, kiwi fruit, olives, peppers, broccoli, fresh peas, apples
• Blue: blueberries
• Purple: grapes, olives, blackberries, raisins

Rainbow kebab sticks are also tasty and fun for children to make. Older children can cut up their own fruit and vegetables then thread them onto wooden skewers.

Rainbows inspire so many lovely activities and are a great way to introduce and reinforce colour recognition. Do you have a favourite story about rainbows?

More Rainbow arts, crafts, books and learning activities on Pinterest