Ripped Paper Rainbows

As happy as I have been to have a real winter this year, it's that time of year where I start to crave color. Not just because the world is white - but because I know that pretty soon we'll enter New England's fifth season - Mud Season- and everything will turn brown.

So while putting together our post on Paper Plate Wreaths I got inspired to try creating a paper plate rainbow with the boys and that lead to these Ripped Paper Rainbows.

This was a great project to try on a "stay home day" that didn't require a lot of prep, materials, or project time. Yet, the result was pretty and it could easily be done by several different age groups.

Materials:
Paper plates (cut in half, with a small half circle cut out of the middle)
Construction paper - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple
Glue

To begin with we used the glue to make a half circle on the outer edge of the plate. The boys then started ripping small pieces off of the red construction paper. Sometimes the shapes were squares, other times they were more like small strips or circles. The best part of this project is that the pieces don't have to be uniform to still look great! 

They placed the ripped construction paper pieces onto the glue. 

Each time they finished one row of color they added another stripe of glue closer to the center of the plate and moved onto the next color. 

In no time at all, they had quickly filled almost their entire rainbow shape. 

By the end of the project they had almost filled the entire paper plate shape with colorful construction paper, creating a ripped paper rainbow. 

They needed to dry overnight, as they had quite a bit of glue on them, but they look great hanging up in the kitchen once they are dry. We love seeing the bright colors! 

Love other rainbow project ideas? Check out our Playdough Invitation to Build a Rainbow or our Crepe Paper Rainbow Collage. 

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