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Easy Rainbow Craft For Toddlers & Preschoolers

Learn how to create a fun rainbow craft using marshmallows. Our children had so much fun using supplies we already had at home.

marshmallows on cardboard to create a rainbow with toddler hands showing it.

If you are like my family, then you are looking for anything that is easy to entertain your children. This easy rainbow craft is so much fun.

And it didn’t hurt that they got to eat some marshmallows in the process! Just make sure that they do not eat the glued ones!

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Recommended Supplies

Supplies needed for easy rainbow craft

  • Marshmallow (white or colored)
  • Cardboard
  • Sharpie or Pencil
  • Glue
  • Optional: Food coloring

How To Dye Marshmallows

Don’t have colored marshmallows at home? No problem. You can use food coloring to make color marshmallows. Just make sure you give them enough time to dry before gluing to your final craft.

Use red food coloring to dye marshmellows

If you only have small white marshmallows, you will want to dye them with food coloring.

Step 1: Make Baggies For Different Colors

Place the number of marshmallows you think you will need for each color in a plastic bag. Add only a few drops of food coloring and about a tablespoon of water. 

Step 2: Add Food Coloring

Zip the bag closed and move the marshmallows around. My toddlers loved seeing the marshmallows change colors.

Colored marshmallows drying for rainbow craft

Once you have made your colored marshmallows, empty the bag on paper towels. Leave the marshmallows there to dry to at least 30 minutes. I recommend having several layers of paper towels on your counter. 

Marshmallow Dying Tip

You can use fewer bags if you make the colors in the order of the rainbow. Start with red, dump out red marshmallows. Then place new white marshmallows in the bag and just add two drops of yellow.

Repeat for all the colors of the rainbow going in ROYGBIV order!

Mixing Purple Colored Marshmellows with food coloring

Your children not only have fun seeing the marshmallows change colors, but they also will learn about color mixing. If want to make this even more educational, you could read one of my favorite color mixing books as well!

Or you could also what my favorite color mixing video! Preschoolers and young children absolutely love this video!

Extra Color Theory Teaching Resources for Children

Fun and Easy Rainbow Craft for kids

How To Make A Textured Rainbow Craft

Step 1: Cut Arc Out

As marshmallows are drying, cut a rainbow arc shape out of cardboard. I took apart a cracker box. The back of the rainbow is the outside part box.

Step 2: Sort By Colors

Once marshmallows are dry enough, have children sort them by colors. Sorting is a great activity in itself for preschoolers!

Step 3: Draw Rainbow Design

Draw rainbow lines and clouds if you want. Decide how many colors will be in your rainbow. Draw that many arced lines.

Step 4: Use Glue

Since my kids are preschool-aged, I decided to put the glue down for them. This also helped because I worked in sections.

Add glue to rainbow craft

Step 5: Continue Adding Marshmallow

Only put glue down for one color at a time. My daughter was so proud when she would finish one of the colors.

Toddlers gluing on marshmellows to rainbow craft

If you have elementary-aged children, then they should be able to do everything for their rainbow craft themselves (from drawing the rainbow to gluing).

Toddler adding rainbow colored marshmellows to art project

My preschoolers were so proud of what they created. The only thing is that you have to encourage your children to not eat marshmallows if they have glue on their fingers…

Oh the joys of being a preschooler! Don’t eat the glue!

Easy Rainbow Craft for Toddlers

I promised a small bowl of fruity marshmallows once they finished their rainbow art project.

Enjoy spending quality time with your toddlers and preschoolers.

Follow us on Pinterest, Youtube or Facebook for more DIY inspiration!

When there is a lot of gloom in the world right now, these easy rainbow crafts sure made me smile. Being creative and spending time together is truly what is important.

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Scarlet

Sunday 25th of October 2020

What a super cute edible craft idea for toddlers. Thanks!

Erin

Wednesday 28th of October 2020

Hi Scarlet. Yes, the food colored marshmallows are edible. But if you do choose to glue them on to cardboard, I would make sure that the kids know that they can eat those! ;) The marshmallows will actually dry out a little. We had our rainbow craft in our window for over a month with no problems. Thanks for the kind words.

Heather @ Embracing Chaos with Love

Sunday 22nd of March 2020

Hi Erin, This is such a cute and easy craft to do with kids. My daughter is obsessed with rainbows too so this is perfect! I love how you used things that you could easily find around the house. You could even turn this into a matching activity where you color the rainbow on the cardboard first and they put the colored marshmallows on the matching color. Thanks for the great craft. Love your post! Heather

Erin

Sunday 29th of March 2020

Hi Heather! Great idea about adding a color match portion to this project. There are so many crafts you can do with objects around the house that kids will love. Thanks for the kind words.

Eachael

Saturday 21st of March 2020

I love this idea amd I know a little girl who would love it too. I actually have some stale marshmallows in the cupboard that would be great.

Erin

Saturday 21st of March 2020

Yes. Stale marshmallows worked really well for this easy rainbow craft! They get a little goopy when you are adding food color, but once they dry they really seem to be ready for the craft.

Kimberlie

Friday 20th of March 2020

I would never have thought of dying marshmallows for the rainbow. I'm excited because my 3 year old will love this.

Erin

Friday 20th of March 2020

Hi Kimberlie. The idea came to me after a friend was making dyed pasta noodle necklaces. I think we will be using food coloring a lot to create easy crafts around here in the next couple of weeks!

Ashley

Thursday 19th of March 2020

Such a cute idea! Love it!

Erin

Friday 20th of March 2020

Hi Ashley! I am glad that you love this easy craft for kids. It really was a lot of fun making rainbows.

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