Creating rainbows

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR CHILDREN

Do you want to become a rainbow maker?

Prepare these materials together with the children:

• a glass or perspex dish of any shape
• a rectangular mirror (a round one is ok too, as long as it fits in the dish)
• a bottle or jug of water (enough to fill the dish, but leave part of the mirror out of the water)
• a strong torch (don’t use electric lights because they’re dangerous with water)
• if your house faces the right way, you can use the sunshine coming in directly through the windows

Put all the things on a table or on the floor, and explain to the children that with these things, connecting them up, a rainbow can be created and that you would like to try it out with them.

A white wall or a sheet of paper you can project reflections onto, will help you see the rainbows better when they appear.

Arm yourselves with patience: rainbows are very timid creatures and prefer to stay hidden.

When you have discovered how to create rainbows you can do it outside using sunlight instead of the torch. You’ll see beautiful rainbows dancing on the walls of houses and on trees.

You almost certainly have some old Cds in the house you don’t use any more.

Try and ge the Cd and the light form the torch to meet. If you can do it in the dark, or semi-darkness, the effect will be even more magical.

Try to discover if you can make variations in the rainbows, by covering part of the Cd, or moving it around, or using more than one at the same time.

Some questions:

> Tell me, this rainbow we have created, what is it like?

> Where does this rainbow come from?

> In your opinion, what is a rainbow?

> In your opinion, are certain things always necessary for a rainbow to appear?

If you have created or discovered more than one rainbow you could ask: do the colours of different rainbows change? Or are they always the same?

This suggestion is part of Investigating natural phenomena

The investigation continues…: 

> Looking for rainbows

AT HOME WITH THE REGGIO APPROACH