Kindergarten Rainbows and Tempera Fun

Well, today was the first day of snow for the winter, so I decided to post about bright colorful rainbows to lighten up this gray, gloomy day.

I use this lesson to not only introduce my kinders to the rainbow order of colors, but it is also my first lesson with tempera. I start out by teaching them my rainbow song (to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"):

Red, orange, yellow, green and blue
Don't forget there's purple, too
All the colors that we know
Live up in a big rainbow
Red, orange, yellow, green and blue
Don't forget there's purple too


I have a big rainbow poster that I point to the colors on while singing, and I also add a few motions. We shake our finger with "Don't forget there's purple too," hold our arms and hands out for "All the colors that we know", and form a rainbow with our arms over our heads for "Live up in a big rainbow." It really sticks in their minds - they always remember it after this lesson.

Then it's demonstration time with the tempera. Here are my procedures:

-I keep the paint in solo cups so I can put the tops back on them and save them for later. It wastes very little paint, it's easy to distribute, and it's a small enough amount that if the color gets too contaminated, I'm not super upset about throwing it away and starting fresh.


-If I'm not going to paint again for a while, I wrap the trays in plastic bags, because the solo cups are not completely air tight when paint gets on the rim (which it will).
-I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE brushes with the shorter handles. The long handles are just too much. School Specialty sells them.
-2-4 students share a paint tray and a water dish, depending on how the tables are set up, which makes set up/clean up faster. I just buy clear deli containers from Gordon Food Service for water dishes, and I'm sure they could be found at Sam's club.
-I also give students a piece of paper towel. To make it easier to pass out, I cut down the side of it with a box cutter.

Since I use the solo cups, it's important that the colors don't contaminate each other. Therefore, I tell them to "Swish, swish, swish - Wipe, wipe, wipe, - Dry, Dry Dry - then Dip the Tip" We say this over and over as we paint so they "Swish" the brush in the water, "Wipe" it on the side (not tap, because then the water splatters everywhere), "Dry" on the paper towel so the colored water doesn't get in the paint, and then they "Dip the Tip" of the brush in the paint.

With the rainbow project, they have to switch colors 6 times, so it's good practice. I pre-draw the top of the rainbow with a pencil to give them a starting point, and when they are finished, I glue the song in a cloud so they can sing it at home!

One of my fav's.