Clouds and Rainbows!

The Plan

Books

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
Little Cloud by Eric Carle
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood

Extension Activities

I used the pieces from another flannelboard to do: Flannelboard: “Magical Rainbow Stew”
Take an apple, put it in the pot
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out. What will it be?
The prettiest red you ever did see.
Credit: Andrea at Rovingfiddlehead Kidlit

Action Rhyme: “Rain Is Falling Down” (Tune: Farmer in the Dell)
The rain is falling down, (flutter fingers down) SPLASH (clap once loudly)
The rain is falling down, (flutter fingers down) SPLASH (clap once loudly)
Pitter patter pitter patter (tap legs softly)
The rain is falling down, (flutter fingers down) SPLASH (clap once loudly)
Credit: King County Library System

Fingerplay: “Itsy Bitsy Spider”

Song: “What’s the Weather?” (Tune: Clementine)
What’s the weather, what’s the weather,
What’s the weather, everyone?
Is it windy, is it cloudy,
Is there rain, or is there sun?
Credit: Perpetual Preschool

Scarf Rhyme: “Rainbow Dancers”
Rainbow dancers let’s get ready
Hold your scarves nice and steady.
You’ll hear the colors of the rainbow.
Listen for your time to go.

Shake red…
Shake orange…
Shake yellow…
Shake green…
Shake blue…
Shake purple…

Red scarves turn around,
Orange scarves up and down.
Yellow scarves reach up high,
Green scarves fly, fly, fly.
Blue scarves tickle your nose,
Purple scarves touch your toes.

Everybody dance around,
Swirl your scarves up and down.

Shake purple…
Shake blue…
Shake green…
Shake yellow…
Shake orange…
Shake red…

Rainbow dancers dance around,
Scarves swirl up and down.
Our colorful dance is at an end.
Thank you, thank you, all my friends.
Credit: K at Storytime Fun

Craft

The idea for this craft came from 1+1+1=1, who also has a TON of other rainbow activities in this post. I did wind up using streamers though, since we already had those pre-cut from another craft.

How It Went

This was the last week of the Spring I session of storytime, so it was packed with kids! I got called a magician after the “Magical Rainbow Stew” flannelboard, when I pulled out the rainbow, which pretty much made my day. The biggest hit for the kids was when we danced around with the rainbow scarves — the kids just shriek with joy when I pull out scarves/shakers. And as for books, both cloud books went great, and “Planting a Rainbow” was probably the favorite of all the books.