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Did you know that you can create a rainbow with clear nail polish? Try this quick experiment using clear nail polish and black paper to make a swirling mix of colors. Since it involves nail polish, younger kids shouldn't attempt this on their own. Although with supervision, it's simple enough for elementary age kids to enjoy as well. I tried this out with my 5-year-old, and he loved watching the rainbow colors appears. Just make sure to supervise and protect your table or work surface from spills.

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Prepare your black paper for marbling by cutting it to fit in your bowl. Fill a bowl with about 1 inch (2.5 cm)&nbsp;of water.

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Place your black paper into the bowl of water. Push the paper under water, and then let it float near the surface of the water. 

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This step must be done quickly! Pour 3-4 drops of clear nail polish above the black piece of paper, and then remove the black piece of paper within seconds.&nbsp;

Pinch the edge of the paper to help you pull it out.

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Place the wet piece of paper onto a paper towel to dry. To speed up dry time, place it in the sun. Look at all the rainbow colors that appear!

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We mounted our marble paper onto a notebook, but you can display the paper however you’d like. Or get creative and use it as an art material for other projects and see what you can make with your rainbow paper!

So how does clear nail polish turn rainbow-y? The colors aren’t in the nail polish (or the paper) — they’re created by reflected light. When you dripped the nail polish into the bowl, it spread out into a very, very thin film floating on the surface of the water. That thinner-than-tissue film is what you picked up onto the paper. When light shines on the paper, some of it reflects off the front of the nail polish film (like a mirror). But since the nail polish is clear, some of the light passes through (like a window) and then reflects off the back of the nail polish film.The rainbow-y effect comes from the combination of those two reflections. White light (like light from the Sun) is made up of all the colors of the rainbow. As the reflections combine, some of the colors are amplified and become more intense — those are the colors you see! And if you’re thinking this looks a little like the colors in soap bubbles, you’re right! A bubble’s “skin” is a thin film of soap and water that creates reflections, just like the nail polish. So break out the bubbles, and let your colors shine!

black paper

clear nail polish

water

bowl

paper towel

gloves (optional)

Rainbow Paper

rainbow science

art project

luminary

Explore reflective materials, colors, and patterns with this easy-to-make DIY kaleidoscope! The word kaleidoscope literally means “beautiful shape viewer.” By using colored beads and a mirrored surface, you can make amazing changing scenes of color. Looking to take your kaleidoscope to the next level? <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo's</a> <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/nature-kaleidoscope-set/5293" target="_self">Kaleidoscope Set</a> includes everything needed to build a high quality wooden kaleidoscope, with activities and samples included!

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Wrap the colored paper around the outside of the toilet paper tube and secure it with masking tape. Then, trim any excess paper to the size of the tube. 

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Trace three circles onto the plastic food container lid using one end of the tube. Then, cut out each circle. 

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Hot glue one circle to one end of the cardboard tube. 

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Cut the reflective paper so that its length is 1” (2.5 cm)&nbsp;shorter than the tube (ours was 4”) and it’s width is 4 ½" (11.4 cm). 

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Fold the non-reflective side in thirds about 1 ½” (3.8 cm)&nbsp;away from the short sides of the paper. 

We used an X-acto knife to score the paper but you can do this without one.

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Tape it together so that it creates a triangular prism. The reflective side should be facing inside. 

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Insert the prism into the tube so that it lays flat against the circle you hot glued in step 4. 

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Trim one circle so that it fits snuggly inside the tube. Then, push it down into the tube so that it just fits over the triangular prism. 

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Fill the tube almost to the top with beads.  

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Hot glue the last circle to the open end of the tube. 

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Decorate your kaleidoscope and use it! To use your kaleidoscope, point the bead end towards light and look into the triangular prism. Then, start turning the kaleidoscope in your hands! 

The heart of a kaleidoscope is its mirrors. When you look at a mirror, you’re looking at a very shiny surface that reflects light. Any light that hits the mirror bounces off of it. Some of that light hits your eye, and that’s what makes the reflection you see. When mirrors are pointed at each other, like in the kaleidoscope, the light bounces back and forth, and you end up seeing reflections of reflections! All those reflections create the colorful geometric patterns you see.

Reflected things have an imaginary line that splits them into halves called an “line of symmetry.” Things on one side of the line of symmetry look the same as the things on the other side, but they’re mirrored. Think about your face — you have a line of symmetry running right down the middle, so the eye on one side looks like the eye on the other! Try drawing shapes you see in your kaleidoscope, and see if you can find their lines of symmetry.

toilet paper tube

colored paper

translucent beads

container lid (plastic)

marker

Scissors

hot glue / hot glue gun

Ruler

pencil

reflective paper

masking tape

x-acto craft knife (optional)

decorations (optional)

Kaleidoscope

experiment

science experiment

easy experiment

physics

chemistry

plants

plant science

Discover the magic of color mixing and capillary action with this easy and exciting science project! 

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Cut a few ½-inch wide strips from a piece of paper towel. Then, cut each strip in half lengthwise (aka hotdog style).

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Place five cups about one inch apart from each other. Then, lay a small strip in between each of them. 

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Squeeze two drops of red food coloring into the cup on the far left, two drops of yellow food coloring into the cup in the middle, and two drops of blue food coloring into the cup on the far right. Leave the other two cups empty!

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Pour water into each of the cups with food coloring, filling almost to the top.

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Place one end of the paper towel into one color, and the other end into another. Watch what happens!

The color climbs up the paper towel bridges thanks to one nifty property of water — it likes to stick to things. (That’s why your finger gets wet when you dip it in water. The water molecules stick to you!)&nbsp;When water gets into a tiny space — like between paper fibers — it’ll stick to the sides of the fibers. Because it also sticks to other water molecules, more water gets pulled into the space after it. Gradually, by pulling in more water and sticking to the sides, the water will inch its way along and climb all the way up the paper. This process is called capillary action, and it’s also how water gets all the way from a tree’s roots up to the topmost leaves!

ruler

scissors

small cups (5)

food coloring - red, yellow, blue

Rainbow Walking Water

arts & crafts

birthday party activities

This fun and easy craft is a great way to use up extra paint, while making beautiful paper for use in scrapbooks or cards!

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Fill your pan with shaving cream & smooth out.

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For a marbled look, swirl the paint in the shaving cream with a chopstick or skewer!

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Lay your paper on top of your pattern and press all the sides gently. Trim your paper to fit your pan if necessary!

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Scrape off the excess foam to reveal your art!

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Repeat steps 4-6 to make more marbled paper creations! Cut your finished paper into shapes to decorate a card or just frame them like a piece of art!

Poster Paint Set

Foam Shaving Cream

Paper (watercolor paper works best!)

Scraping Tool (we used folded paper)

Marbled Paper

painting

decorations

Label your little ones’ doors with these darling DIY name signs!

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Mask off your sign with painters or washi tape.

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Paint your sign with your base color. We used light blue!

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Paint in the blank strips with the colors of your choice!

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Use clay cutout letters to spell your name with air dry clay.

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Use the foam stickers to stick the air dry clay to the sign!

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Use foam stickers of a glue gun to attach a ribbon, wire, or string to your sign so it can hang.

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White Air-Dry Clay

Letter and Number Cutter Set

Double-Sided Sticky Foam Set

Piece of Scrap Wood or Cardboard

Painters Tape or Washi Tape

Bedroom Name Sign

fashion

back to school

Bring a little color into your ensemble with these easy and fun clay rainbow pins!

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Portion out equal sized balls of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple clay.

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Shape your red rope into a horseshoe shape. Make it approximately the width you’d like your finished pin to be.

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Lay each colored rope into the first one, allowing overhang on one side.

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Use a clay tool to cut off the excess from both sides to make a clean edge.&nbsp;

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if you want to add clouds to your rainbow, roll out some white clay and use a clay tool to cut it into cloud shapes! Then press them onto the front of your rainbow.&nbsp;Once you're happy with it, let your clay rainbow dry for 24 hours.

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After your clay rainbow is fully dry, use a foam sticker to attach a pin back to it.

Rainbow Air-Dry Clay

Clay Tools Set

Craft Hardware Set

Rainbow Clay Pin

craft

3 material crafts

Bring some color into your room with this fun and easy to make yarn rainbow!

33 cool rainbow craft projects for kids

Screen-free fun!