Linda Marie Romeril

Whether at home, in the community, or in the classroom, opportunities for children to learn are everywhere, and the story of “Rainbow the Clown” offers many such opportunities to explore.  For the younger child, the fun is in finding the images on each page that match up with the text, as well as practicing their colour recognition skills. The simple words used throughout the book are ideal for kids who are just beginning to read by themselves, and the rainbow theme opens the door to a conversation about some basic science facts that kids can have fun with. Very young children don’t usually respond well to detailed scientific explanations, but with a few questions to guide them, how about having the child(ren) explain the rainbow to you?  Where do rainbows come from? How many colours do they have? Can you name all the colours? How do you feel when you see a rainbow in the sky?  (It might be fun to write down the answers, and date them. Years down the road I bet they’ll bring a smile 🙂

1) Place a small mirror in a glass of water, then place the glass in a sunny window so the sun will shine on the mirror. Turn the glass until the rainbow is reflected on the wall, and see if your kiddo(s) can find all 7 colours of the rainbow.

2) A fun outdoor activity you can do, is to spray a fine mist of water from a hose while standing with your back to the sun. Your very own rainbow will appear! Try adjusting the angle of the spray to see if you get a different effect.

Another important focus in the story of “Rainbow the Clown” serves as a reminder to all of us that appreciating the little things in life paves the way for even more wonderful things for us to appreciate. The more excited we are about life, the more exciting things we’ll encounter (or create). Children can be encouraged to think about how their attitude can influence their experience, even from one minute to the next. Here are a few good questions to get the conversation going;

What happens when we pay attention to the things that make us happy? Do we feel happier? Does feeling happy make our day go better? (Ask your child(ren) to list some of the things that make them happy, and ask them how they feel just thinking about the list) Now ask them what happens when we focus our attention on things we’re not happy about? Do we feel grumpy? Does feeling grumpy make our day go better? (Ask your child(ren) to list some of the things that make them feel grumpy, and ask if feeling grumpy makes those things go away) What would happen if we chose to feel happy instead of feeling grumpy?

When kids answer some of these questions they’ll begin to see how their day is influenced by what they think about, and how it makes them feel. Over time they’ll begin to realize we all have the power to choose our attitude, and if we consciously choose to look for the rainbows in life, we’re much more likely to find them ♥