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How to Make a Rainbow With Elementary Students

Though sunlight seems colorless when viewed with the naked eye, it is actually made of different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet (purple). During a rainfall, rainbows may form when a sunbeam passes through a drop of rain at a certain angle. Since rainbows are relatively rare, you can use or make a prism to demonstrate the light spectrum to elementary school students. After the demonstration, you can teach your students to mix paints to make a rainbow that includes all the colors in the light spectrum.

Things You'll Need

White paper
Prism
Clear plastic box
Hand mirror
Red, yellow and blue paints
Paintbrushes

Instructions

- 1
  Attach white paper to the wall surrounding a sunny window if the walls aren't already white.
- 2
  Hold a prism next to a window and tilt it toward the sun. If you don't have a prism, make one by filling a clear plastic box with water and placing a small hand mirror inside the box facing the sun. When the prism catches the sun, tiny rainbows will appear on the wall.
- 3
  Show the students that each rainbow includes the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. The mnemonic device "Roy G. Bv" is an easy way to remember all these colors in the proper order.
- 4
  Give students paper, paintbrushes and red, yellow and blue paints. Ask the children how they can make a rainbow with only these three colors, then demonstrate how to mix the primary colors to make all the colors in a rainbow (red + yellow = orange, yellow + blue = green and red + blue = violet). Once you've demonstrated how to mix primary colors, allow each student to try mixing his own colors and painting a rainbow.

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