Rainbows are such a wonderful way to review and explore color and color mixing. As part of our exploration of rainbows, we invited the children to put together these simple felt rainbow puzzles.
We often sit down as a large group to explore different kinds of concepts through a hands-on activity. For the rainbow felt puzzles, each child was given their own small DIY felt board and felt puzzle set.
Miss Abby used the large group time to promote discussion with the children about size, shape, color, and rainbows.
Even though the children worked side-by-side on their rainbow puzzles, they still were given lots of room to put their puzzles together in their own way.
I always enjoy sitting down together as a large group to do a process such as this. It gives us time together to promote discussion, build community, and learn from each other.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the felt we are using and that I love the most is a stiff felt. It cuts easily and holds it shape much better than soft (flimsy) felt.
Available on Amazon
Links to Grow On
The Rainbow Center by Teach Preschool
Amazing Rainbow Sensory and Discovery Bottles from Preschool Inspirations
May I ask why you are using pink and what looks like black in your rainbows?
Ah, the black is actually a dark purple and what we had on hand. The pink is because it was one of the colors we have been reviewing recently. For us, the focus was more on a color review and not on teaching the rainbow in what is considered by the majority to be “correct”. Which, by the way, if one really researches, one will discover there are LOTS of colors in the rainbow, “So going off of unique frequencies, there are more colors in a rainbow than there are stars in the Universe or atoms in your body, but that goes far beyond what we can perceive. Your imperfect eye can (probably) only discern about a million distinct colors when you view a rainbow, or anything else, for that matter.” from https://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/08/14/how-many-colors-are-really-in-a-rainbow/
I’m doing a preschool program about rainbows at my public library next week. This was perfect timing. Thank you!
I was wondering the same thing about the pink, but maybe the black looking piece is really indigo. So many people leave indigo out of the rainbow. When I teach my preschooler’s the colors in the rainbow, I tell them, it isn’t a true rainbow without indigo????
Yes, the black is actually a dark purple:) The pink, because we like pink! But I often share this article when we get on the topic of rainbows that you might like – “So going off of unique frequencies, there are more colors in a rainbow than there are stars in the Universe or atoms in your body, but that goes far beyond what we can perceive. Your imperfect eye can (probably) only discern about a million distinct colors when you view a rainbow, or anything else, for that matter.” from https://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/08/14/how-many-colors-are-really-in-a-rainbow/
Please tell me about the mats the children are working on. What a great size for independent learning!
Love the stiff felt too!
These are our small sized DIY flannel boards which we actually call lap boards. Here is a really old post on how we make them. I make them in all sizes. This set has lasted me for five years but I did recover one time. https://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/08/diy-flannel-board-for-preschool/