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Book Inspired Rainbow Science STEAM Activities for Kids

My daughter loves the book “A Rainbow of My Own” by Don Freeman. A book about a young boy that would like to have a rainbow of his own to play with.

Every time we read it my daughter loves to make a rainbow of her own. Since we read this book a lot, we have had the opportunity to have a lot of fun finding new ways to make rainbows together.

This post contains a few of our favorite ways to create, learn about, and play with rainbows.

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Book Inspired Rainbow Science STEAM activities for Kids

This post is inspired by the children’s story “A Rainbow of My Own” by Don Freeman. A book about a young boy that would like to have a rainbow of his own to play with.

When the little boy runs outside to catch a rainbow he sees from out his window it disappears. He imagines one that follows him and wants to play but it too disappears when the sun comes out.

The boy returns home to find a rainbow dancing on his bedroom wall. He notices that the sun made it just for him by shining through his fish tank. Upon seeing it he exclaims, “…a rainbow just for me–a rainbow of my very own!”

Book Inspired Rainbow Science STEAM Activities: The Science of Rainbows

My daughter and I began playing with rainbows by exploring the science of rainbows. To see a rainbow you need two things. First, it must be raining in the distance and sunny at the same time. Next, you need to turn your back to the sun and look towards the rain to see a rainbow.

A rainbow appears because the raindrops refract or bend the light so that we can see the rainbow of colors that are naturally contained within the sun’s white light. This is why we see a rainbow in the sky when we look towards the rain with our backs to the sun.

A brilliant illustration of this can be found in the book, “Where Do They Go When it Rains.” Another one of my daughter’s favorite books.

Book Inspired Rainbow Science STEAM Activities: Prism Play

We began our rainbow exploration by playing with different types of prisms to see the different types of rainbows we could make dance on the wall. This was not new for my daughter, but her understanding of it was.

When she was a small baby I used to spin the prisms in our windows when the sunlight hit them to make the rainbows dance on our walls. It would make her squeal with joy so I did every time the rainbows appeared.

Imagine my pain when she began to cry her eyes out wanting me to make them dance when there was no sunlight… Talk about a parenting nightmare!

This mom understood what she wanted and used a flashlight to make rainbows for her with the prism. It worked a lot better than trying to explain why the rainbows would not appear without the sun to a baby. Now that she is older she is able to understand why mommy had to go get the flashlight.

When natural or artificial light is directed at a prism it will bend or refract the light in the same way that a raindrop does when a light source is placed behind it. If there is no light source their will be no rainbow. The same is true of a rainy day.

Different prism shapes and cuts will produce different rainbow patterns on the wall. You can see a few photos of our prism play below.

Fun Prisms to Play with to Make Rainbows

Book Inspired Rainbow Science STEAM activities for Kids: What is STEAM?

Rainbow science and prism play is awesome, but it is NOT a STEAM Activity. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

A project must contain at least two of the disciplines to be considered a STEAM activity. STEM education can help children begin to think deeply and make connections between subjects so that they can become the researchers, innovators, and leaders of tomorrow. STEAM takes STEM to the next level by including the arts.

Children need to be engaged in learning, and learn in ways that will keep their attention. The easiest way to do this is to make it fun and interesting. The inclusion of the arts in STEAM education does this for many children. Using book inspired activities is yet another way to keep kids engaged and make learning more fun.

Maybe we should call book inspired STEAM activities STREAM activities with reading added into the mix. Talk about taking STEM activities to a whole new level! Adding multiple learning disciplines into the mix will allow the student to make new connections and reach a greater understanding of the subject matter.

Book Inspired Rainbow Science STEAM activities for Kids

To make prism play a STEAM activity we decided to make a rainbow pony bead prism suncatcher. A beautiful work of art that takes basic engineering and math skills to put together. Once finished, it can be hung in the window as a constant reminder of how rainbows are made as it shines rainbow science all over the room!

The Bonus? Your child will have ‘a rainbow of their own’ to hang in their window!

Left Brain Craft Brain has another way to turn prism play into a STEAM activity. Find out how she and her daughter made chalk art with prisms HERE. (Bottom left image in photo collage below)

The Pinterested Parent and her daughter completed a similar rainbow STEAM activity using the reflections of a CD and paint. Learn more about what they did and how they did it HERE.

Book inspired rainbow science STEAM activities for kids make learning about rainbows and how they form fun! These rainbow STEAM homeschool activities are inspired by the book, “A Rainbow of My Own.” Increase understanding by creating art and crafts that contain elements of math, engineering, and or technology.