Color Sorting Fine Motor Activity Inspired by The Hidden Rainbow

Practice color sorting and fine motor skills with this preschool activity inspired by The Hidden Rainbow by Christie Matheson. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

The Hidden Rainbow by Christie Matheson

Christie Matheson has a knack for creating colorful, interactive books that seamlessly incorporate a science lesson. The Hidden Rainbow is her newest book and it might be my favorite yet. Help the colorful garden grow by interacting with the pages in the book. Learn about flowers of different colors and see fruits of rainbow colors, too. There are bees on each page for you to count. The end of the book discusses the importance of pollinators like our bee friends.

Rainbow Color Sorting Fine Motor Activity

Materials Needed for the Color Sorting Activity

Wax paper or parchment paper
Permanent markers
Colored water (can use liquid watercolors, food color, or washable markers to make colored water)
Cup of water for rinsing
Droppers or pipettes (reusable straws can work, too)
Tape
Tray, baking dish, or protected surface

How to Play

I like to do water activities like this on a tray. You could also use a baking dish or just protect your work area with newspaper or a tablecloth.

Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on your tray. Tape it down to keep it from moving.

Use a permanent marker to draw trees and baskets on your parchment paper. I drew rainbow colored trees in the style of a scene from The Hidden Rainbow. I left out the plum trees and their indigo color.

Side note: Even though we were traditionally taught seven colors of the rainbow, most scientists now only divide it into six distinguishable colors. Indigo is really just a shade between blue and purple. (It’s deep blue. Think of the pigment in our indigo blue jeans.) A lot of times people represent the color wrong, so I just leave it out.

Use a dropper or straw to add drops of colored water to each tree.

Invite your child to pick the fruit from the tree. She can squeeze a dropper to suck up the colored water.

Then, squeeze the dropper into the correct color basket.

Provide a small cup of water to allow your child to rinse the dropper between colors. It’s okay to explore color mixing as well.

If you’re using a straw, you should be able to drag the water drops around. Or you can gently blow into the straw to move them.

More Ways to Learn Colors for Preschoolers

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