# Plate Rainbow Craft > Kids paint seven Styrofoam plate strips in rainbow colors, then stand them up in play dough walls with cotton wool clouds and a pot of golden treasure. Calling out and counting the colors makes it a color, counting and fine motor activity for St. Patrick's Day. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/plate-rainbow-craft/ - Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 25 min, activity 30 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids - Skills: colors, counting, fine-motor, collaboration - Cautions: wheat-gluten ## Materials (one batch) - 1 piece Styrofoam plate - 1 piece Marker or pen (household) - 1 piece Scissors (household) - Acrylic paint in rainbow colors, plus black - Paintbrush - Play dough (blue) - 1 sheet Blue construction paper - Cotton balls / cotton wool - Golden paper (any golden treasure bits) - 1 piece Small salsa container (household) - 1 sheet White construction paper (optional) ## Substitutions - Instead of styrofoam plate: Paper plates (The post's ingredient list says paper plates, but the author actually used Styrofoam. Paper strips may not stand up in play dough as well.) ## Safety - Adult does the drawing and cutting of the Styrofoam strips with scissors. - Acrylic paint can stain clothes and isn't meant for mouths. Cover the table and supervise toddlers closely. - Cotton balls, play dough and small paper treasure bits are choking hazards for toddlers who still mouth things. Supervise closely. - Many play doughs contain wheat. Check the ingredients for kids with wheat or gluten allergies. ## Before you start - Adult: draw 2 rainbows on a Styrofoam plate, one in each semicircle, with 7 curves each. - Adult: cut out the 7 strips along the curves, as uniform as possible. - Paint a small salsa container black with acrylics so it can dry before it becomes the treasure pot. ## Steps 1. Adult: draw 2 rainbows of 7 curves on a Styrofoam plate, one in each half. 2. Adult: cut out 7 strips along the curves of each rainbow, keeping them as uniform as possible. 3. Hold a strip down with one finger and paint it a rainbow color with the other hand. 4. Call out each color as you paint it, and count the strips. 5. Set the painted strips out to dry. We came back the next day. 6. Roll play dough into cylinders and make 2 mini walls on blue construction paper. 7. Poke small holes in the play dough, press the strip ends in, in rainbow order, and cover with more dough if needed. 8. Stick cotton wool at one end for the clouds. 9. Cut golden paper into treasure bits and spread them in the black-painted salsa container at the other end. 10. Toddlers: stick the painted strips flat onto white construction paper instead. ## Tips - Try to be as uniform as possible with the strips so it doesn't get too complicated when you start attaching them to the play dough. - Holding the plate strip with a finger and painting with the other hand was a great fine motor exercise for both the toddler and the preschooler. - Attaching the rainbow to play dough is best suited for preschool age and above. - It's easier to make small holes in the play dough first, press the end of the strip in, and cover it with more play dough if need be. - It's a fun little exercise if you do one end and the child does the other. Good for collaborative work. - Crafts like this are a great way to start talking about St. Patrick's Day, rainbows and leprechauns. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013) Actually they are Styrofoam plates. This is a fun little rainbow craft which will be fun for toddlers and preschoolers **while teaching them colors and counting.** - Paper Plates cut into semi circles - Paint - Cotton Balls - Any golden treasure bits - Play Dough First, I drew 2 rainbows on a Styrofoam plate ( use 2 semi circles cut out from the plate) Then I cut out 7 strips along the curves of the drawn rainbow. **Note**: Try to be as uniform as possible with the paper strips so it doesn't get too complicated when you start attaching them to the play dough. Once I got the 7 strips the kids started painting the strips. We used acrylic paint. **Holding on to the paper plate strip with a finger and painting with the other was a great fine motor exercise** for both the kids (toddler and pre school age) While the preschooler knew her rainbow colors it was a work in progress for my toddler girl. We called out the colors out loud while painting which was great for **color recognition** and counted them. Here are our rainbow strips fully colored. We set them out to dry and came back to it the next day ( you could go at it once the paint dries) As mentioned earlier, rainbow crafts or any crafts like these are a great way to begin talking about new concepts and events and in this case this activity gave us a chance to talk about St. Patrick’s day, rainbows and leprechauns. **Attaching the rainbow to play dough would be best suited for pre school age and above.** We rolled out some play dough in a cylindrical shape and made 2 mini walls on a blue construction paper. Then we started “sticking” the Styrofoam rainbow strips into the play dough on each side. It is easier when you first make small holes in the play dough and press the end of the Styrofoam rainbow strip into the play dough and cover it up with more play dough if need be. This will be a fun little exercise if you do one and end and the child does another. Good for collaborative work. Once we had all our colored strips in order, my pre schooler stuck some cotton wool for the clouds. For the treasure at the other end of the rainbow we cut up some golden paper and spread them out in a small salsa container painted black with acrylics. There you have it, our plate rainbow craft. The toddler painted rainbow was stuck on a white construction paper. Thanks for reading Please take a moment to comment Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at [**couple of**](https://www.funlittles.com/paint-with-spaghetti-brooms/) our [**popular posts.**](https://www.funlittles.com/animal-resist-painting/) --- ---