Materials
Picture of Sir Isaac Newton, optional
Men's old white dress shirts or lab coats for dress-up
One plastic prism
Instructions
1. If possible, show a picture of Sir Isaac Newton and explain that he was a great scientist. Talk about what a scientist is (an expert in science, someone who observes, studies and does experiments to find out more about things in the world). If possible, have the children dress up in lab coats like real scientists. Tell the children you are going to do the following experiment, first done by Newton.
2. Locate a window in your school or classroom where direct sunlight is pouring in. Cover the window or pull down a shade so only a small beam of light comes through. Hold the prism point down in the beam so that the children can see a rainbow. Explain that when white light from the sun passes through the prism and is broken up into different colors, a rainbow appears. Allow each child time to explore using the prism.More to doGames: Sing "The Rainbow in the Dell" to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." Make red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet construction paper circles and a drawing of a rainbow. Attach yarn to the rainbow and the circles individually to make them into necklaces. Select a child to wear the rainbow. Distribute the other color necklaces. Ask the child wearing the rainbow to select the first color. For example, "The rainbow takes the red, the rainbow takes the red. Hi-ho the derry-o, the rainbow takes the red." Continue until all the colors have been selected, then let each color go away until "the rainbow stands alone." Repeat the game until each child has had a turn.Math: Make a bar graph illustrating each child's favorite color of the rainbow. The children can use Unifix or wooden cubes to duplicate the graph.
