Draw a Rainbow

The guided steps take a smart route: two fluffy clouds go down first, one on each side, and then the arcs stretch from cloud to cloud, starting with the biggest and nesting each new arc inside the last until the smallest one closes the set. Anchoring both ends is what makes this a rainbow drawing easy enough for brand-new artists, because every arc has a clear place to start and stop.

As a rainbow drawing for kids, it is hard to beat on a gray afternoon. It suits ages 4 to 8, asks nothing more than a finger and a little patience, and delivers the kind of cheerful result that gets taped up somewhere prominent. It also makes a gentle warm-up before busier subjects like the monster truck.

Coloring a rainbow is the whole point, of course. Tap-to-fill puts six bands of color one touch away, so kids can draw a rainbow online and paint it in classic order or invent their own sequence entirely. The rainbow coloring finishes with a signature and a save, ready to share with anyone whose day needs brightening.

Do the rainbow colors have to go in the right order?

Only if your child wants them to. The classic red-to-purple order is satisfying to learn, but the tap-to-fill palette lets kids invent their own sequence, and no meteorologists will be notified.

Why do the clouds come before the arcs?

The clouds act as anchors. With one cloud on each side, every arc has a clear starting point and landing spot, which makes the long curves much easier for young kids to place.

Keep going: printable rainbow tutorial · more objects · drawing ideas for kids