Explore colors in a new and fun way with this simple outdoor activity for kids. This reusable cardboard rainbow takes just minutes to set up and will be loved throughout the spring and summer seasons! Kids will love decorating the rainbow while working on color recognition, hand-eye coordination, and strengthening fine motor skills.
Summer vacation is here which means we have all day to get outside and enjoy nature. Most of our time is spent in free play, but sometimes it’s nice to have an activity ready to go to mix things up a bit. Summer days can be long, so start collecting your ideas now!
This activity is fun for kids of mixed ages, interests, and abilities! If you have multiple children, you can make one board for each child or encourage team work and have them share the same rainbow board.
Just a quick reminder to only pick flowers in your own yard!
Ready to give it a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..
Supplies:
- Flowers
- Sharpened pencil to poke holes in the cardboard.
- Cardboard– These cardboard sheets are a convenient option if you don’t have any to reuse.
- Something sharp to puncture holes in the cardboard- I used a sharp pencil.
- Scissors or X Acto Knife– These are excellent for cardboard crafts! They are very sharp ONLY for adult use.
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Related: Check out Nature Sun Catchers Made With Recycled Items
Here’s How I Made the Rainbows:
Step 1:
Make your rainbow board. I used 2 different sized bowls to trace half circles on my cardboard. Next I cut it out with an X Acto knife. This doesn’t need to be perfect because it will be covered in flowers!
Step 2:
I drew simple rainbow lines with a pencil on my cardboard. Then poked holes with a pencil for threading the stems.
Once it was all set, we headed outside and went around our yard quickly to check out our current flower situation. We looked at the different colors that we currently have and decided which ones to thread on the board. We decided on red, yellow, green, and purple!
My boys are obsessed with identifying plants ever since our sticky scavenger hunt activity, so this was a fun activity to tap into that interest again!
My four year old loved pointing to the plants and identifying the colors!
Our creation looked more and more beautiful with each color we added!
I love that we can reuse this board over and over again! We will try this activity again during wildflower season:)
You can also try to place wax paper on top of the flower rainbow and place a heavy book on top to press the flowers. This way the decoration will last much longer!
Pin it and save it for later!
I hope you give this simple nature activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.
∼Tara
