Do you love painting rainbows? As an early years teacher, I really enjoyed rainbow painting with preschool kids. It was always so fun. We often painted and sang at the same time.
Whenever we painted rainbows or used lots of different colours we would sing the rainbow song.
I lived in New Zealand where the native language is Maori and we would sing and learn both the colours in English and in the Te Reo Maori language. Teaching in two languages was so much fun.
Today we have a fun and simple rainbow colours painting craft which comes as a free printable download. This preschool craft uses a wine cork and is super fun, quick and easy for young children to paint. Enjoy. Check out this fantastic article for more dot marker activities!
Jump to:
💖 Why You'll Love This Craft
- Messy Fun Without the Stress: Corks make the perfect size stampers for little hands—easy to grip and dip!
- No Brushes Needed: A fun twist on painting that’s brush-free and budget-friendly!
- Recycled & Resourceful: Reuse wine corks for a creative, eco-friendly preschool craft.
🎨 Supplies Needed
- Wine cork
- Craft paint in rainbow colours
- Rainbow colouring sheet printable
- Paper towels (optional
🖌️ How To Paint a Rainbow With Cork
- Step 1: Have your child dip a wine cork into their choice of colours and press it down into the lines on the rainbow colouring sheet.
- Step 2: Alternate colours, or make each line of the rainbow a single colour as you paint complete this rainbow painting project.
- Step 3: Once you have finished with one colour, you can wash the wine cork and begin with your next rainbow colour. You could also use a number of corks if you can have a few wine corks on hand.
Rainbow Painting as a Teaching Opportunity
Painting rainbows can be a great learning opportunity for children and completing this rainbow art is the perfect time to help your child learn their colours.
Why not have your kids repeat the name of each colour as they make a new circle on their rainbow worksheet. You might also like to sing the Rainbow song as I used to.
Each time your child dips the wine cork into the coloured paint, they can dab it on a piece of paper towel before pressing it onto their colouring sheet to get off some excess paint.
This is not a required step, but a helpful tip so that your rainbow sheet will dry more quickly.
Enjoy.
💡 Pro Tip: Place faint pencil arcs under each stripe as a track so children can visually follow the direction of each color band more accurately.
🧑🎨 Expert Tips
- Color Switching: Teach kids to clean or change corks between colors, helping them stay aware of transitions and avoid unintended mixing during application.
- Arc Movement Practice: Encourage children to follow curved lines or rainbow templates, guiding their hands in soft arcs to build directional control.
- Stamp Spacing: Help kids evenly space out each color mark by modeling slow, intentional stamping rather than quick, overlapping motions.
- Wrist Stability: Ask children to rest their wrist lightly on the table while stamping to stabilize movement and improve control during repetition.
- One-Color Focus: Let kids practice one rainbow stripe at a time with a single cork, supporting focus and reinforcing color separation through repetition.
- Dominant Side Anchoring: Use the non-dominant hand to hold the paper still, so the stamping hand can move more precisely along the curve or target zone.
💭 FAQs
Arranging colors in rainbow order helps kids understand how sequences work. It strengthens their ability to predict and follow visual progressions.
The consistent stamping motion involved in creating the rainbow profoundly enhances childrens ability to develop a strong sense of rhythm and timing.
Completing the pattern requires sustained attention throughout the steps. This enhances concentration during tasks with multiple components.
Repeating small presses with even pressure builds motor steadiness. Children learn how subtle hand shifts affect visual outcomes in a sequence.
Download Printable
Grab your free Printable Rainbow Wine Cork Painting Template here!
Painting Rainbows With Cork For Preschoolers
Materials
- Wine cork
- Craft paint in rainbow colours
- Rainbow colouring sheet printable
- Paper towels optional
Instructions
- Have your child dip a wine cork into their choice of colours and press it down into the lines on the rainbow colouring sheet.
- Alternate colours, or make each line of the rainbow a single colour as you paint complete this rainbow painting project.
- Once you have finished with one colour, you can wash the wine cork and begin with your next rainbow colour. You could also use a number of corks if you can have a few wine corks on hand.
- Painting rainbows can be a great learning opportunity for children and completing this rainbow art is the perfect time to help your child learn their colours.
- Why not have your kids repeat the name of each colour as they make a new circle on their rainbow worksheet. You might also like to sing the Rainbow song as I used to.
- Each time your child dips the wine cork into the coloured paint, they can dab it on a piece of paper towel before pressing it onto their colouring sheet to get off some excess paint.
- This is not a required step, but a helpful tip so that your rainbow sheet will dry more quickly.
- Enjoy.
You may also enjoy the following educational craft ideas for preschool kids
Did you make this craft? Leave a review and comment below! Alternatively, bookmark it in your browser or save to Pinterest.
Leave a Reply