Rainbows! One of our favorite spring themes and always fun for kids! Today we share with you 33 rainbow sensory play ideas to enjoy with your babies, toddlers and preschoolers!
When we think about spring, we can’t skip talking about rainbows! After all, rainbows are connected to “April showers” and St.Patrick’s day.
Rainbow Sensory Activities for Kids
We collected a number of rainbow sensory activities to work on 5 senses with your babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Although, older siblings are likely to join in the fun as well!
For many of rainbow activities here, you will need food coloring.
Under the Umbrella Sensory Play
Pop under our Rainbow Umbrella for some colorful sensory play. Your babies are going to love watching rainbow over their heads. Under the umbrella sensory play would be perfect before nap time in the afternoon, or you can even lay down with them and take a nap together! Details at: Best Toys 4 Toddlers
Rainbow Soda Dough Recipe
Have you ever made a soda dough? It has a similar feel to playdough. You can make a big batch of Soda Dough in all the colors of the rainbow. Just remember to store it in a air-tight container because it dries pretty quickly. Details at: Lemon Lime Adventures
Taste Safe Sensory Rainbow
Sit back and watch without any worries your littlest one get her / his hands stuck into this Taste Safe Sensory Rainbow. They can munch it or lick it off the spoon. They can also use it for painting. Now, isn’t this fun? Details at: Powerful Mothering
Scented rainbow beans
Scented rainbow beans are perfect for sensory, imaginative and creative play time with your kids. Use them as a sensory bin base or make art with them! You can also test child’s smelling buds with these colorful beans. Details at: The Imagination Tree
Weaving Rainbow
Prepare a busy bag with a weave a rainbow activity. This is an awesome tactile activity for fine motor practice! And, since it uses just 2 materials, it’s on cheaper side for your budget. Details at: Best Toys 4 Toddlers
Rainbow Ice Ball Sensory Bin
Fill a sensory bin with ice balls in all the colors of the rainbow and see what happens when they all start to melt together. Kids will be a bit surprised as they reach for lovely transparent balls. Because, who can resist them?! Details at: Craftulate
Rainbow Oats
Have you used oats for a sensory play before? These rainbow oats would make a great introduction for a sensory material for your child. Add few construction vehicles and they are all ready for play! Details at: And Next Comes L
Rainbow Discovery Bottles on the Light Table
Have fun exploring these Rainbow Discovery Bottles over a light table. Or without light table. They will be fun to play with either way! You can also use them to learn about mixing colors, without any mess that usually comes with activities like painting. Details at: Play to Learn Preschool
How to Dye Rainbow Pasta
Learn how to dye pasta in all the colors of the rainbow. Depending on the shape of the pasta, you can use them for threading, as a sensory bin base or for crafts. Each type of pasta provides a different sensory experience. Details at: Learn Play Imagine
Rainbow Tactile Sensory Bin
This Rainbow Sensory Bin is filled with lots of different and interesting textures in all colors of the rainbow for your babies and toddlers to explore. Depending on the used items, this can be a perfect sensory bin for younger children, like babies and toddlers. Details at: In the Playroom
Rainbow Sensory Writing Activity
Practise making marks in a Rainbow Sensory Writing Tray filled with colored barely. To make it more fun, change up writing tools from fingers to magic wands! For kids who are not ready to write actual words or letters, then mark-making is great practice. Details at: Fun a Day
Mini Rainbow Sensory Bottles
Make some Mini Rainbow Sensory Bottles for babies to explore visually and roll over the floor as they attempt to crawl. All of these sensory bottles make slightly different sounds. They are all slightly different weights. They can be picked up, thrown, or mouthed. Details at: The Kavanaugh Report
The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Activity
Read the Rainbow Fish and follow it with a fun play dough rainbow fish activity. Perfect fine motor practice for toddlers and preschoolers! And, with few tweaks, you can add variations to this activity to provide different learning outcomes! Details at: Learning 4 Kids
Sparkly Rainbow Slime
Add a super sparkly effect to Rainbow Slime when you add glitter to it. Now, doesn’t this sound awesome? Kids will love it for sure! Details at: Craftulate
Thread a Froot Loop Rainbow
Work those fine motor skills and thread a Froot Loop Rainbow. This simple threading activity is a neat way to make a rainbow. Bonus? It’s snack time activity! Not many activities you can find around are safe for younger kids, but this one is yummy! Details at: Fun Learning for Kids
Rainbow Peg Dolls
Enjoy a pretend play session with DIY Rainbow Peg Dolls. You can use them as a figurines in sensory bins for different colors as well. Basically, make them once and use them forever in different activities! Details at: Rhythms of Play
Rainbow chickpeas
Learn how to dye chickpeas for sensory play in all the colors of the rainbow. Their rocky texture will provide lots of fun and new tactile experience for kids! Plus is that they are super quick to prepare for play! Details at: And Next Comes L
Rainbow Tissue Paper Suncatchers
Get hands on with some window art and create a beautiful Rainbow Fish and Elmer the Elephant. Tissue paper has a special texture and working with those thin layers will provide a challenge for little ones.
Pom Pom Rainbow Collage
Use colored pom poms to create a Rainbow Collage. Doesn’t it look amazing? You can glue pom poms on canvas instead of paper and hang it on the playroom’s wall. Details at: Danya Banya
Rainbow Painted Toast
Toast is much more fun with a Rainbow Painted on it. Would your child enjoy making, painting and eating such a colorful toast? Kids from toddlers and preschoolers up to much much older kids will love this rainbow craft idea! Details at: Messy Little Monster
Rainbow Loom Sensory Bottle
Fill a sensory bottle with Rainbow Loom Bands. It’s fun seeing loom bands jumping up and down in the bottle! Just watching the rainbow bands swirl around has an awesome calming effect on babies and toddlers. Details at: Teaching Mama
How to Make Colourful Rainbow Goop
Get your hands stuck right into some Rainbow Goop. Goop is a tricky non-liquid mater and always peeks child’s interest with it’s solid and liquid texture. It will provide a new sensory experience for kids for sure! Details at: One Time Though
Tissue Paper Rainbow Suncatcher
Create a Rainbow Tissue Paper Sun Catcher and hang it in your window to brighten up rainy spring days! An action of crumpling tissue paper and afterwards, placing each piece on the clear contact paper provides a good fine motor practice for kids. Details at: Fun Learning for Kids
Rainbow Musical Shakers
Shake! Shake! Roll! Shake! Make your own music with these Rainbow Musical Shakers. These musical shakers can of course be made with any colours and contents you fancy. You can match it to a certain theme or holiday. There is no limit! Details at: Kids Craft Room
Rainbow gelatin sensory tub
Set up a Rainbow Gelatin Sensory Tub for your kids to explore. If you add scissors, it will make an awesome scissor skill practice as well! The major bonus of this sensory tub is that for toddlers who are putting everything in their mouths it’s no biggie if they take a bite. Details at: No Time for Flash Cards
Rainbow Sensory Sand
Prepare a batch of rainbow moldable sand for beach experience outside summer season! Add few molds or cutters into a bin. Invite kids to dig in! An added bonus: squeezing and molding the sand builds strength in hands, and builds fine motor skills. Details at: Pre-K Pages
Rainbow Soap Foam Bubbles Sensory Play
Water play is always fun for little ones! Especially when you add rainbow soap bubbles inside the water tub! Who wouldn’t want to play?! You could also make just two primary colors and make it into a color mixing lesson. Details at: Fun at Home with Kids
Rainbow Spaghetti Sensory Activity
For babies and toddlers who always try things with their mouth first, set up a rainbow spaghetti sensory bin. It might take a bit longer to cook, dye and dry spaghetti but you will be rewarded for your effort with lots of time spent playing. Details at: Little Learning Club
Rainbow Foam Dough
Have fun making and playing with rainbow foam dough! Let toddlers and preschoolers assist in making it! Foam dough in rainbow colors is not only visually appealing, with all the fantastic colors, but is also incredibly fun to play with. Details at: Living Life & Learning
Rainbow in a Bag
Rainbow art can be mess-free with this awesome rainbow sensory bag! Try it with your baby or a toddler, it’s perfect for them! Since it’s bagged, you can leave it on the table and kids will return to play throughout the day. Details at: Powerful Mothering
Rainbow Sensory Ice Excavation Activity
For future scientists, prepare a rainbow ice excavation activity! They will love melting the ice to free the rainbow. Kids will also learn about the feeling of cold and different textures of ribbon as they work to remove each color from the ice. Details at: Creative Little Explorers
Rainbow Painting with Cars
Paint a rainbow with cars! It’s so much fun, especially if you have few kids to do it together! You could make a very interesting picture by encouraging kids to drive around on the paper any way they want to. Makes it great idea for play dates or birthday parties. Details at: 123Homeschool4Me
What Else Can You Do with Kids in Spring?
- Put together 5 in 1 rainbow busy bag and have it ready when you need something to occupy your child.
- Invite kids for a backyard photo scavenger hunt on a sunny spring day.
- Print free spring coloring pages and let them sit down for some independent play.
- Sit down and read few spring board books to expand child’s vocabulary and learn about changes in nature in spring.
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