Pony Bead Rainbow

Description

This activity is making a Pony Bead Rainbow. It is great for reinforcing colors, numbers, counting and sorting. It also helps practice fine motor skills by stringing the beads on the pipe cleaner. Make this pony bead rainbow with just a few items.

Materials

• Pony Beads
For a rainbow 4.5 inches across you need:
1. Red 30
2. Orange 25
3. Yellow 20
4. Green 17
5. Purple 14
6. Blue10
• 5 or 6 pipe cleaners
• Flat Styrofoam craft piece 5 inches in diameter.
• 4-5 cotton balls
• Craft Glue like Aleenes or Fabri-Tac
• Small containers or plate to sort beads by color. Muffin tins are also great for sorting beads.

Steps

• Sort beads by color into small containers, plate or in a muffin tin.
• String the beads by color onto the pipe cleaner.
• An adult will have to put the rainbow together after beads are strung. Start with the blue (the smallest ray).
• Keeping beads in the middle of the pipe cleaner, poke one end of the pipe cleaner into the styrofoam.
• Slide the beads to the end you poked into the styrofoam.
• Use the other end of the pipe cleaner, poke a hole where you want the other end to go.
• Trim the extra pipe cleaner to about an inch.
• Poke the newly cut end into the second hole.
• You may find you need to add or remove a bead to make it proportionate.
• Adjust beads so there is little or no space between them especially at the top. The bottom can have space since you will be covering it with cotton and it won't show.
• Pull each cotton ball into several pieces. Glue cotton onto the styrofoam.
• Let dry completely before moving.

Tips for Making the Pony Bead Rainbow

• If activity is for a younger child, simply have the beads pre-sorted and counted and work on one color at a time.
• Older children can sort and count it out themselves.
• Rinsed empty applesauce containers or a muffin tin work well for sorting.
• Keep those snipped ends of the pipe cleaners...they can be used for other crafts.
• Read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister with your child or a A Rainbow of My Own

Educational Notes

A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colors. It's a phenomenon which causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the sun shines on droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. Its colors are best remembered by the mnemonic Roy G. Biv. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.