Tissue Paper Rainbows for St. Patrick's Day

My daughters have never heard of leprechauns.  Is that terrible?  I told them stories about leprechauns today, to get ready for this art activity.  They're little people, they're sneaky and tricky.  If you catch one, he has to tell you where his pot of gold is, or grant one wish.  (I might be embellishing a bit.  Isn't that how fairy tales go?)  You can find leprechauns at the end of a rainbow, if you're quick.

Ernie's only response, much later, was "Mom?  Are leopards yellow?"  Yes...with brown spots.  "OK, so the yellow in the leprechaun rainbow is going to remind me of leopards.  Because their word roots are the same- they both start with "lep!"  My child...is obsessed with learning about animals right now.  I also just introduced her to the concept of word roots, and heaven help us all, I'm going to dig out my latin word root cards tomorrow and show her a few.  Oh, and Mimi said she would NEVER wish for all the candy in the world- she'd get sick.  OK, then!

ANYWAY!!  I love these rainbows- I remember making an enormous poster this way for my 3rd grade teacher as a girl.  I begged and begged the teacher to let me stay in from recesses to help finish it for her.  The girls took to this just as much, Ernie was actually giggling over her project.  I was awarded "Best Mom Ever!" status for the afternoon- I love that status.  I certainly didn't have that status at the grocery store today...

So, here's the supplies:

• tissue or crepe paper in rainbow colors, cut into squares- we used crepe streamers
• white school glue
• a pencil with an eraser
• construction paper

I showed the girls how to sketch a rainbow onto their construction paper, and start filling it in.  You take one square of paper, and swizzle it around the eraser end of a pencil.  Lightly tap it in the glue, then press it onto your paper; gently pull the pencil out while holding the tissue paper down.  They got the hang of it really quick, and this was a ZERO mess project.  The best kind.