Have you ever tried teaching Toddlers the Rainbow with textures and physical activity!
Are you looking for a creative way to teach colors? Or perhaps you’re working with Toddlers who love to be physical and even wrestle while they learn? This activity combines textures, sensory play, physical exertion AND learning colors… JOY! {Who’d have thought I could pull that out of all this mess?}

While working through our Mini Toddler School Unit about Rainbows, I decided our gross motor activity should be to “build” some. Coincidentally, as we get closer to wedding season I happen to have a lot of colored sashes laying around the house. It  hit me, after the boys played with them endlessly one day that I could easily utilize these awesome pieces of fabric to initiate some learning. There are teachable moments everywhere!

So, with my {we’ll call them} Sensory Sashes I hung a Rainbow in our window with the organza sashes. I used a clothespin to stick them up there on the drapes so they could easily pop off. If you’re looking for ways to Build a Rainbow with Toddlers, this was a very fun and pretty display to look at.

When the Hooligans approached this lesson they were intrigued…. “Mom is hanging pretties in the window, do explain crazy lady” is what I image they were thinking.

Naturally I approach every planned activity with a BOOK! [See our Book List for the Rainbow Unit HERE]

Today I read again, “What Makes a Rainbow” by Betty Ann Schwartz. We’ve used this one a lot while learning about Rainbows this month. See it in action again HERE with the Rainbow Rice.

I also read “The Leprechaun Who Lost his Rainbow” by Sean Callahan, as we stuffed sashes into a bucket by colors.

As I read, they started pulling down sashes {obviously} and then rolling, jumping, tossing… you get the idea. Amidst all the “Rainbow Wrestling” as they playfully dubbed it, I continued to read and talk about rainbow colors and orders. Here is how I “taught” while they had unless amounts fun:

Conversation Questions:

Can you hand me all the RED sashes?
Can you hand me all the SMOOTH sashes?
Can you hand me all the rough (organza) sashes?
Okay, I have RED, which color is next in a Rainbow?
Pull down the THIRD color of a rainbow. Which color is it?!
…and so on.

This Rainbow Wrestling activity turned out to be a pretty awesome final assessment actually to wrap up our mini unit… Literally, WRAP up since Cash rolled away in all the sashes. He stood up in the massive tangle and says, “I’m a Princess!” as to describe thee dress-like tangle he was in… pretty accurate actually!

**IMPORTANT: Please note that children should never, ever be left alone while Building a Rainbow with fabric sashes as it was very easy to get tangled in them. The boys loved having the sashes piled on top of them and “wrestling” them which lead to a LOT of limbs and even necks getting wrapped up. You know what I’m getting at… be VERY careful and always supervise this activity.