The Rainbow Connection

Art Inspiration Challenge#2:

Today we will be inspired by some artists who live in Brooklyn.  They create rainbows out of whatever they have at home and place them in their windows.  As people walk through the neighborhood they play a game of "I Spy" to try to find as many rainbows as possible.  So many people have started making rainbows for their windows, the residences have even created a Google Map to track them.  Suddenly people in Chicago, Mumbai, and Montreal were also creating rainbows for their windows.  Why do you think all these people from all over the world are drawing the same thing? Why do you think they choose to draw a rainbow?  What do rainbows symbolize or mean?  When do we usually see them?

Read for Inspiration:

Rainbow-Spotting on the Quiet Streets of Brooklyn

By Charlotte Klein

• Share
• Tweet
• Pin It

Photo: Photographs, from left to right: Nicole Sylianteng; Pamela Mock; Isabella Sperduto; Andrea Strong; Neva Alsheik; Martha Burzynski; Lerossboss; Antoinette Wannebo; Megan Crawley; Casey Roede; Nicole Cepeda; Martha Burzynski; Rebecca Maccurtain; Lauren Sharpe; Debra Robbins; Isabella Sperduto

On March 16, Marisa Migdal posted in her neighborhood Facebook group with a plea. “My two children were getting frustrated with not being able to go to playgrounds or touch anything when we went on walks,” says Migdal, who lives on the border of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. “It wasn’t as fun as fresh air should be.” Someone suggested trying what families in other parts of the world were doing: hanging drawings of rainbows in their windows for kids to spot on their daily walks, like a neighborhoodwide I Spy game. “All of a sudden, I needed help to make a Google Map of everyone participating,” Migdal says.

Word got around to Anna Grotzky, another Brooklyn resident, who volunteered to map all the quarantine rainbows in the neighborhood. She created a spreadsheet for people to post their addresses and share the project with others as “a lovely reminder for all of us that, in a storm, there is still something to look forward to.” And Brooklyn’s Quarantine Rainbow Connection was born.

“We go on a treasure hunt for rainbows, and it’s made our days,” says Migdal. “You can hear people pass by a rainbow and say, ‘Oh look, a rainbow!,’ and they run to the window and wave.” She went out the other day with her children expecting to use the map to find rainbows, but they spotted five without even looking at the phone. The Quarantine Rainbow Connection has extended beyond Brooklyn — to Chicago, Oakland, Mumbai, Montreal. When Migdal saw that someone in South America had added themselves to the map, she used it as an opportunity for a geography lesson with her daughter. “I think the kids had a hard time understanding we’re not the only ones stuck in our house,” Migdal says. “Knowing people around the world are facing the same thing has helped.”

*This article appears in the March 30, 2020, issue of New York Magazine.

Now let's create some rainbows to put in our windows! There are so many ways to create a rainbow! But first you need to know a little about color.  Click on the videos below to groove out while learning about color and rainbow order:

Okay, so now get your supplies ready.  Maybe you don't have crayons at home or perhaps all your markers are dried out and old.  That's fine, we have you covered!  Look at the examples below to exercise your creativity and put some color in the world (and maybe in your window)!

Sort your Legos by color and create your rainbow.  Place it on your window sill for passerbys to see.

Use Play-Doh to experiment!

Use construction paper, or paper you've colored with crayons or markers, to make your rainbow.
Add some cotton balls for your clouds.  You could hang this one in your window like a mobile or ornament.

With fruit loops and marshmallows, arrange a rainbow and glue it onto a piece of paper.
Eat at least a handful of fruit loops as you make your artwork, you deserve it!

This rainbow was made from magazines.  Flip through some old magazines (ask your parents first!) and cut out colors from the pictures.  Organize into piles of colors and sort through the pieces to create an upside down "U" shape.  Glue it all down!!

Step it up a notch with markers or colored pencils!

This is really a challenge!! Using zentangles (which is a fancy word for doodling patterns), create an artwork in RAINBOW order!!

Plain Ol' "Grab your coloring utensils Rainbow"...

This one's easy!  Grab whatever coloring utensils you have around (crayons, markers, coloring pencils, pens, pencils, etc.) and draw a rainbow however you like!

Share your rainbow drawing by taking some tape and displaying it for everyone to see.  It's guaranteed to spark a smile!  

Painted Window Rainbows...

So this one definitely requires: 

1. Adult approval

2. Adult assistance and or supervision

3. Acrylic paint and/or window specific paint (acrylic washes off of windows)

First, grab your supplies...

• You'll need to clean your window surface, so grab some Windex and a paper towel and get that surface squeaky clean!
• Acrylic and/or window specific paint
• Paintbrush
• Water to rinse your paintbrush with from color to color

Once you have your supplies ready, paint your rainbow!

Chalk Art Rainbow...

Got some sidewalk chalk lying around?  Cheer up your home's exterior by doodling and coloring on the ground... bonus if you make a rainbow!

Please share with us your rainbows!  
Post a pic in the comment section and look out for rainbows from your window or  while you take a walk or a ride in your neighborhood.  If you find one let us know!

Remember to always ask your parents permission before loading your pictures!!