Make a Fruit Loop Rainbow

Description

Read about rainbows and make a cute rainbow using cereal like Fruit Loops or Fruit Rings. Add some tissue to make a mobile.

Materials

Fruit Loop Cereal
1 Dixie or Thick White Paper Plate
1 thin wire hanger or ribbon to hang finished rainbow
Tacky Craft Glue (Elmer's will not hold well)
Colored Tissue Paper
Packaging Tape

Other Materials

Wire Cutters or strong scissors if you use hanger as method to hang.
Ribbon and Hole Punch if you plan to hang using ribbon or yarn.

Steps

Cut white paper plate in half or a little bigger than half.
If you plan to hang your rainbow using a ribbon. Punch two holes in the top of the plate and string the ribbon through and tie.
Place Fruit Loops in bowl and have your child sort colors into another small container or small dish. We sorted one color at a time.
Start on the outer rim with the red Fruit Loops. Put Glue on the rim of the plate in a very thick line.
Have your child line up the red Fruit Loops onto the glue.
Make another thick line of glue inside of the red for the orange row.
Continue until you reach the purple and let dry for a few hours.
Glue any loose Fruit Loops. We had about two that needed additional glue. Let dry
Cut tissue into strips.
Turn rainbow over and place a line of glue across the bottom. We just used Elmer's for this.
Have your child place tissue along the back. Add a second layer of tissue if you wish.
Let dry. Bend the hanger by pulling the bottom downwards to form an oval. Using the other half of the plate, shape the hangar to fit the back under the rim. It doesn't need to be perfect just relatively flat. Bend and cut with wire cutters.
Tape to the back of finished rainbow.

Tips and Suggestions

Use a tacky craft glue that is fast drying to help adhere Fruit Loops. Elmer's is too thin and the cereal will slide around more. Make sure to make a very thick line of glue to hold cereal in place. You may need to add glue to a few loose Fruit Loops after drying. We had a couple we had to add more glue to.
We used a thick Dixie Plate. I am not certain that a thinner one would have held the Cheerios in place as well.

Other Ideas

Indoor Rainbow

Materials: Drinking Glass, Water, Mirror and Flashlight Here is a quick toddler science activity. Fill a large drinking glass with water. Place a small mirror in the glass. Tilt the mirror slightly. Go to a dark room with white walls. Shine the flashlight onto the mirror. A rainbow appears on the wall. You may need to adjust the angle of the mirror if you do not see the rainbow. Explain to your toddler what happens and name the colors in the rainbow together.

Additional Activities

A book is a great way to introduce a toddler science activity. Go to the library or a bookstore and find a book on rainbows. Or find pictures online of a rainbow.
Introduce the pneumonic Roy G. Biv (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) to help learn the colors of the rainbow in the order they appear