Weather Craft: Fruit Loops Rainbow

This craft is popular on the internet, but you don't have to make it as filled in for younger children, or you can make it more elaborate for older children. All the parents from our class loved this craft. It was cute, and we used the leftover FruitLoops and marshmallows for snacks. The rainbow helped teach our younger children about colors and how to match them. You can make it more difficult for older kids by not providing color lines, have them make a color wheel or necklace instead of just a rainbow.

This is an example one of the students made, almost entirely by herself :)

What You'll Need:

• A box of Fruit Loops (If you don't want to use the brand Fruit Loops, check the box of the off-brand to make sure you have all six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. You won't use all of these.)
• A bag of mini-marshmallows (You won't use all of these, either.)
• Liquid glue
• Half a sheet to a whole sheet of white construction paper or cardstock (it needs to be thicker and stronger than regular printer paper)
• Two bowls, one to hold Fruit Loops and one to hold marshmallows (this is optional, but it makes it easier for children to see the different colors and keeps them from putting their hands in the rest of the food in the package)
• Crayons or markers in the colors of the Fruit Loops
• Pencil or pen (to draw clouds for the marshmallows, optional)

How to Make It:

1. Pour the Fruit Loops and marshmallows into the bowls so the children can easily see the colors of the cereal and avoid touching the other food.
2. Use the pen or pencil to draw clouds, and the crayons or markers to draw out the lines of color for the children to follow with the Fruit Loops. The children can do this themselves, if they're old enough, or you can just give them the food to make the rainbow.
3. Give the child the glue, or place glue dots along the lines, and allow the children to pick out the colors that match the lines, and put them down. Then, use the glue to fill in the clouds, and have the child place the marshmallows inside, as many as they can fit.
4. Voila! A beautiful food rainbow! Though the children can't eat the rainbow they've just made, they can eat the leftovers :)

If you want to make a necklace, use string and poke holes in the marshmallows. The child can string the Fruit Loops in rainbow order, or any order they want, and put the marshmallows on either end. Or, to make it a longer craft, you can have the child put each color on a different string and tie the strings together at the end to form a layered necklace. Use your imagination, and let the kids use their imagination, too! You'll never know what they'll be able to come up with.