Making rainbows in Sunday school is a popular activity because the rainbow is symbolic of the Old Testament story of Noah and the Flood. In the Genesis story, when the flood is over, God uses a rainbow as a covenant with the earth that it will never be flooded this way again. The rainbow is therefore symbolic of God's faithfulness in keeping promises. Sunday school teachers and their pupils can make large hanging rainbows using these simple-to-follow instructions.
Choose one piece of cardstock to be the master. The master will be the largest arc when the rainbow is finished, so this should be red if you are aiming to make an accurately colored rainbow. Draw the outline of your rainbow on the master card. It should be made up of seven arcs.
Cut out the largest arc from the master card and lay it to one side. Cut out the next largest arc and use it as a template to draw an arc on a different colored piece of cardstock. Cut out that arc and place it to one side with the largest arc.
Return to the master card and cut out the third largest arc. Use it as a template to draw around on another different colored piece of cardstock. Cut out that arc and place it to one side with the two different colored arcs already cut.
Repeat these steps until all of the arcs have been cut out of the master card and used as templates on different colored cardstock. Once all seven arcs have been used as a template, you should have seven different color arcs on your pile to one side, all in different sizes. Place the remainder of the card to one side: you will find there are plenty of different-sized arc shapes you can use for subsequent rainbows.
Lay the seven arcs flat in rainbow formation. They should not overlap. Take a length of string and lay it down the middle of the rainbow, creating a line of symmetry. Use a small amount of sticky tape to tape the string to each individual arc, taking care not to stick the arcs together. At the top of the rainbow, unroll as much string as you think you will need to hang the rainbow. This will depend on the height of the ceilings in the Sunday-school room.
If you want your rainbow's arcs to be able to move independently of each other, creating a 3-D rainbow, the craft is now complete and it can be hung using a drawing pin. If you prefer the rainbow to lie flat -- for example, if you will be hanging it against a wall rather than suspending it from a ceiling -- lay another piece of string across the arcs, midway between the line of symmetry and the end of the arcs on each side, and tape the string to each individual arc.
To make more than one rainbow at a time, cut out all seven arcs from each color and arrange them all to make rainbows with different combinations of colors.
Evelyn King began her freelance writing career in 2009, with expertise in animal care, sports and leisure topics. Her work has appeared in "Durham21" and "The Mildertian," among other publications. King holds an honors Bachelor of Arts in French and Spanish from Durham University.