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You are here: Home / Themes / St. Patrick's Day / Rainbow and Bits of Gold Streamer Craft for Kids

Rainbow and Bits of Gold Streamer Craft for Kids

By Shaunna Evans 23 Comments · This content may contain affiliate links.

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The kids really enjoyed the bell streamers we made a while ago, so I knew they would have fun playing with this rainbow and bits of gold streamer craft. It’s great for St. Patrick’s Day, spring, or a rainbow theme, and it is a very easy craft to make.

FIND EVEN MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY IDEAS IN OUR PRINTABLE ST. PATRICK’S DAY THEME LESSON PLANS.

Materials:

  • Dry beans
  • Gold paint
  • Ribbon (in the colors of the rainbow)
  • Plastic bottle with lid
  • Something to poke a hole in the lid

We started by painting a few dried beans gold. You can paint them however you like. We put the beans in a disposable cup, squirted a bit of acrylic paint into the  cup, and used a craft stick to stir the beans until they were well coated. Then we dumped them out onto a plate to dry. I would suggest pouring them onto wax paper though. Ours were a bit stuck to the plate, so we had to pry them off.

Next I poked a hole in the lid. Use whatever tool you have handy. I happened to grab a wine opener out of the kitchen drawer. You want to make the hole big enough to pull the ribbon through but not so big that the beans and/or the ribbon can fall (or be pulled) out.

Rainbow Streamer Parts

 Cut the ribbon to your desired length. I made shorter strands for the baby and toddler and longer strands for the preschoolers.

Gather the ribbon. It actually looks like a rainbow if you put the ribbons in order and then pinch them all together before pushing through the hole. I didn’t do that for the first streamer I made, and you can tell a bit. But once they are playing, the ribbons go in all different directions anyway. Either way it looks pretty. (You can see the difference in the picture above and the picture below. Above I put them in order. Below I just pushed them through randomly.)

Tie the ends of the ribbon in a knot and cut off any long ends.

Rainbow Streamer

Place the beans inside the bottle. (Make sure the inside of the bottle is completely dry first.)

Tighten the lid onto the bottle. I did not hot glue the ribbon or the lid, but you may want to depending on your kids and how interested they will be in opening and closing the bottle. I expected the little ones to try, but they were so intrigued by the sounds of the beans and the colors of the ribbons that it wasn’t an issue.

Rainbow and Bits of Gold Streamer

Then let your little ones run, dance, shake, and explore with their rainbows and bits of gold!

We read two books to go along with this craft.

In The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow a little girl shares special treasures of her own to help a leprechaun build a rainbow. I love that this story shows a leprechaun who is helpful and not as mischievous as most of the other stories we’ve found about leprechauns.

A Rainbow of My Own is about a little boy who wishes he had a rainbow of his own.

If you are on Pinterest, you might enjoy some of the ideas on my Rainbows and Colors and St. Patrick’s Day for Kids Boards.

MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY THEME FUN WITH PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

 

GET YOUR LESSON PLANS

Preschool St. Patrick’s Day Theme Lesson Plans

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Or get a full week of playful rainbow theme ideas!

 

    

Explore a rainbow theme with your preschoolers for St. Patrick’s Day or Spring. This pack includes editable lesson plans and hands-on activities for a week full of math, reading, & science learning activities. There are also many color activities included so that preschoolers can learn colors and be introduced to basic color theory. Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:

Get Your Copy

Home Preschool  Rainbow Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Rainbow Theme Lesson Plans

More St. Patrick’s Day Fun

Looking for more ideas? Try some of these fun St. Patrick’s Day activities from our archives.

St. Patrick's Day Activities for Kids

And don’t forget to read some great books for St. Patrick’s Day too!

St. Patrick's Day Books for Kids

This post has also been shared at some of these fantastic link parties.

This post contains affiliate links.

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Filed Under: Baby, Book Related Activities, Gross Motor, Kindergarten, Letter R, Preschool, Rainbows, Spring, St. Patrick's Day, Toddler Tagged With: active play, color activities for kids, rainbow activities, simple crafts for kids, St. Patrick's Day activities

Previous Post: « Quick Rainbow Window Display
Next Post: Rock Demo Science Fun for Kids »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Erin

    March 19, 2013 at 10:22 am

    Cute idea! Thanks for sharing at mom’s library!

    Reply
  2. Sugar Aunts

    March 17, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    I love this! How fun!!

    Reply
  3. JDaniel4's Mom

    March 17, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    Your gold at the end of a rainbow activity is so creative and fun! What a wonderful book tie in. I will be sharing this post on Facebook and Pinterest.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 19, 2013 at 12:58 pm

      Thanks so much! We enjoyed it a lot, and the girls were very sad to tuck them away with our St. Patrick’s Day things. I’m sure they will be excited to open them up again next year!

      Reply
  4. Susan Syddall

    March 16, 2013 at 1:39 am

    This is a beautiful idea. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 17, 2013 at 1:08 pm

      Thank you! The kids really seemed to enjoy the flowing ribbon combined with the ability to make music. I’m so glad you liked it, too.

      Reply
  5. Catie

    March 15, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    I made these with my home daycare kiddos this week! We LOVE them 🙂 we used the small water bottles and added a couple cotton balls for clouds in with our “gold” (they still made great music) Thanks for sharing, great idea!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 17, 2013 at 1:04 pm

      Thanks so much for coming back to let me know how they worked out. I’m so glad your kiddos loved them. I love the idea of cotton balls for clouds!

      Reply
  6. Beth S.

    March 15, 2013 at 9:27 am

    This will go well with our rainbow unit! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 15, 2013 at 12:54 pm

      I’m so glad! Hope you enjoy it…I think it would also be fun to switch the gold out with something to resemble clouds like marshmallows or white beads. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Kristina @ SchoolTimeSnippets

    March 14, 2013 at 11:50 am

    Just LOVE this idea!

    Reply
  8. Mary Catherine

    March 13, 2013 at 11:03 pm

    Such a fun idea! I love the integration of sound as well as the wind aspect. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 14, 2013 at 5:37 am

      Thanks! Adding the beans has been a lot of fun…gives the craft more versatility. And I love to see the different ways the kids use them.

      Reply
  9. KC @ The Real Thing with the Coake Family

    March 13, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    What an adorable idea!
    KC

    Reply
  10. Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest

    March 13, 2013 at 7:51 pm

    How lovely! Another great idea Shaunna. 🙂

    Reply
  11. Katie @ Gift of Curiosity

    March 12, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    This is so simple, but also so clever! Love the “gold” at the end of the rainbow! Pinning now!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 13, 2013 at 5:40 am

      Thank you! I love simple crafts, especially ones that we can play with after we’re done making them. Thanks for pinning.

      Reply
  12. Kirstylee

    March 12, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    So cute! I love that you added the gold beans too. It really completes the thing. 🙂

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 13, 2013 at 5:39 am

      Thanks! The gold beans have been a lot of fun. They add a whole different type of play to the craft.

      Reply
  13. MaryLea (pink and green mama)

    March 12, 2013 at 11:38 am

    Love this one too!! So many cute ideas here. Adding to my Pinterest board now!

    Warmly,
    Pink and Green Mama
    MaryLea

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 12, 2013 at 12:55 pm

      So glad you like the ideas! Thanks for sharing and hosting the link up.

      Reply
  14. Stephanie

    March 12, 2013 at 9:35 am

    This is a great idea! I think you have inspired me to try our own version…I’ll let you know how they turn out!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      March 12, 2013 at 12:54 pm

      My girls always play with a traditional version of the bean shakers that they used for a parade a while back, so I thought this would be a fun spin on it. Definitely let me know if you try it out 🙂

      Reply

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