The Rainbow Connection

Summer is in full swing…and so is the heat. There have been a slew of thunderstorms this late June and July so I thought it might be fun to learn about rainbows. Did you know it is very uncommon to see a rainbow in the winter…or that the ancient mythology of Japanese culture believed that rainbows were bridges that allowed deceased ancestors to visit earth? We know that rainbows are created through light and water reflecting and refracting…but did you know that you can never reach the end of a rainbow?

Did you know rainbows are actually circles? Yes they are. Most of the time the other half of that bow is blocked by the horizon. But..if you were to go up into the sky, you are far more likely to see that full circle rainbow. Also if the sun is lower in the sky, the higher the rainbow will shoot up. Wanna see a full circle rainbow…climb a mountain with a good view of the rainbow. The next time you spot a double rainbow notice that the one on top is inverted. That means that the  reflecting the pattern of a regular rainbow are reversed on the top of a double rainbow,  starting with violet at the top.

We decided to do some fun activities involving rainbows. Ever heard of traveling rainbows? Fill up some mason jars with water. Add in a few drops of different colored food coloring in to each jar. Fold up paper towels and dip both sides into different colored jars. Watch the water creep up to the top and form a whole new color.

I basically only try easy experiments, why, you ask…because I have a knack for screwing them up. So we stick with easy experiments and are pleasantly surprised. This is why I love the skittles experiment. Simply line up your skittles in rainbow order in a circle around a plate or bowl, then pour in a tiny bit of water and watch the colors meld into a lovely design.

There are many other ways to create rainbows…with running water and light, prisms, even an old back of a cd and a flashlight. We had fun with a few of these activities.

We finished up with reiterating that God created the rainbow as a promise to not flood the whole earth again. There are soo many things to learn and so many ways in which to learn them! What strikes your fancy?