Mix up a silly, colourful rainbow drink for kids for St. Patrick’s Day!
The other night, I was preparing some St. Patrick’s Day crafts and activities for my daycare hooligans, and I got the idea to make a rainbow drink for them to enjoy on St. Patrick’s Day.
I tested the idea with my own boys before making it for the toddlers and preschoolers, and it was a hit! Hey, what kid wouldn’t want to drink a rainbow, right?
For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links.Â
Making a rainbow water treat couldn’t be easier.Â
To make a St. Patrick’s rainbow water drink for kids, you’ll need:
- water
- food colouring
- ice cube tray
I grabbed my Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple food colours, and I mixed up a batch of rainbow ice-cubes.
My favourite food colouring brands:
When I’m colouring food or using food colour for arts and crafts, I use one of the following brands of food colour. Â My favourite are the icing gels because of the vivid, intense colours they produce.
McCormick Traditional Food Colors
I made red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple ice cubes, and to fill the last 2 sections of my ice cube tray, I mixed together blue and purple to get indigo. Â
I popped the tray in the freezer, and fast-forward to today – St. Patrick’s Day.
March 17th is always extra special at our house because in addition to celebrating all things green and Irish, we’re also celebrating my hubby’s birthday!Â
We had an awesome day celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and my husband’s birthday. We went bowling and out for pizza and we came back home for cake. In all honestly, I’d completely forgotten about the rainbow cubes, and I didn’t remember them until I went into the freezer to get out some ice cream to serve with the cake!
How exciting!Â
I quickly grabbed a couple of glasses and layered the ice cubes in rainbow order. Then I topped the glasses with water and presented them to my boys.
They were thrilled.
Isn’t it great how sometimes the simplest things make the biggest impressions? Â
Although it’s the perfect drink for kids for St. Patrick’s Day, rainbow water is a fun treat any day of the year.
Go ahead and make a batch of coloured ice cubes, and brighten your kids’ day with a glass of rainbow water tomorrow!
You may also like:
Fresh Squeezed Homemade Lemonade in 3 Easy Steps
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
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entertainingmonsters
Wow! So pretty and yet so simple. This is is definitely one to pin and try in the future.
Herzton
Such a great idea!!! I love your blog!!!!
Kira McCauley
is it food coloring that you used?
happyhooligans
Yes, just a drop or two of food colouring in each bottle. This was so fun! We’ll have to do it again this Spring. The kids loved it!
melanielaz
Oh great idea! This must be a blast for the kids to drink up!
Jennifer
wow! My boys would love this! Its just food coloring and water right?? I am gonna try this.
happyhooligans
Yep, that’s it, Jennifer – just water and food colouring! How easy is that?!
Susan
I am so delighted by your creativity!!!!!!Love this and i can’t wait to share with my preschoolers!!!!!!!!
Jessica Wilson
mmmmm. my mother did this when i was small and added juice to the cubes to create a punch of sorts. 😉
happyhooligans
Mmmmmm, that would be so much tastier than water, Jessica! lol
Brie
Is this just food coloring added to water? What “gels” are you referring to? Thanks for your help; I’d love to do this one!
happyhooligans
You can use regular food colouring drops, Brie, but if you want to know the gels that I’m talking about they’re
Wilton Icing Gels. If you scroll down the home page of my blog, almost to the bottom (just a little bit under the pic of the Icicle Ornaments in the side bar), you’ll see a section called MY FAVES. The icing gels are listed there. You can click on them, and be taken to Amazon.com to see the details about the gels.
Abby
This is totally awesome! I thought of the idea too and googled how to do it. My only question is: What happens when the ice cubes melt??? Do the colors leak and the water become a gray mess?
happyhooligans
I suppose it would if you let it sit, Abby, but my guys drank it so quickly we didn’t have the chance to find out. 🙂
3glol
Easy, simply, yet ah-some idea!! thanks for sharing!!!
Jeanne
This is such a cute idea but when we did it yesterday my kids mouths were all stained blue or purple and still are today. It’s a good thing my husband and I didn’t try any or we would have looked hilarious today. Any tips to avoid this?
happyhooligans
I would suggest less food colouring Jeanne. My guys didn’t have any staining. It’s strange because if you’d put the food colouring in icing or some other food, I wonder if their lips would’ve been so stained. How many drops did you use? Alternatively, you could freeze different colours of juice. Then there would be some nutritional value as well.
Linda Womack
Wow I think that is a awesome idea cause my grandbabies don’t care for water but if I put some color to it they may drink it. I don’t want to put the Koolaid packs and things in the water because of the sugar.
cathou
super ton arc-en- ciel boisson je vais le faire aux petites filles
Emily
Such a simple idea. Definitely need to try this with my children. Thank you
Jan
Hi. We would love to make the crystals you showed but in the UK can’t get Borax. Do you know what else would work please?
happyhooligans
I believe you can get it here, Jan. http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk
Cindy
so colorful…kids are going to love it on st paddy’s day…thanks
Rai Gulfam
Wow Amazing Post!!
Kids Surely Love that
Can we use multy food coloring ??
Jill Powner
These are just so festive! I especially like the rainbow water!