Rainbow Craft from Pom Poms and Bottle Caps for toddlers and preschoolers to refine fine motor control and color recognition.
This is a fun Rainbow Craft from Pom Poms to reuse your milk caps and create a festive fine motor activity.
You will need for this Rainbow Craft
- pom poms (we are loving these glitter ones)
- recycled caps (use bottle caps, milk caps or even yogurt pouch caps),
- a glue gun
- tongs (optional)
Instructions
First, glue blue cardstock over a rectangular piece of cardboard to resemble the sky.
Then, draw a thin vertical line in the middle of your blue cardstock with a pencil as a middle line for symmetry.
After that, starting at the bottom, glue seven caps horizontally to the right and seven to the left, since there are seven colors in a rainbow. You will then glue the identical number of caps on each side of your middle line for each ray.
Thereafter, offer your child colorful pom -poms to fill the rainbow.
Tips and Suggestions
Smaller children (age 1-2 years old) will enjoy using their hands and fingers to transfer pom poms, while stimulating the tactile sense and practicing a pincer grip.
Offer tongs to children [2-5 yo] to further exercise dexterity, and your 6+ yo might even attempt using chopsticks.
Repetition is the Mother of Skill
A child can do this activity as many times as s/he wishes. There are just two rules: follow the rainbow colors (one color per ray) and proceed from left to right.
Left to Right Progression
‘Left to Right Progression’ is a very important concept that is not innately/naturally learned and is often overlooked. It is the concept of writing, reading, counting, and more. With regular practice, your child will acquire this skill, which will help in many areas, including literacy and numeracy.
Rainbow Craft Variations:
- Discuss rainbow colors (we had to substitute violet and indigo – official rainbow colors – for
purple and pink pom-poms). Ask: “How many colors are in a rainbow?” Seven! - Ask your child to count how many pom-poms are on each ray.
- Alternatively, you might show your child a pattern to replicate: as simple as AB (repeating just two colors more than once) or a more complex one, such as ABCD or ABBCCD.
- Also, don’t forget to take a step back and observe: what would your child choose to do with the material provided?
Please, always supervise your children while they are S.T.E.M.-ing through play.
For more hands-on fun, see here: St. Patrick’s Day Inspired Unit Study.
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