Some of the best ideas are the spontaneous ones. Some good friends of mine recommended I branch out from the usual eggs for breakfast — so on a whim, I decided to make rainbow pancakes that very morning. I literally decided to do it and whipped them up all within a matter of 30 minutes. And the outcome was so fun!
Rainbow pancakes are proof that you don't need a big plan or a lot of time to make breakfast feel special. I had never made pancakes as an activity before — eggs were our usual breakfast — and this one spontaneous morning completely changed that. If your morning routine could use a little color, this is the activity for you. And just look at these adorable rainbows and clouds — I will definitely be doing more pancakes in the future.
What You Need
Pancake mix
Water or milk
Canola oil
Food coloring
Piping bags
That's it! Nothing fancy, nothing you can't find in your kitchen right now.
How to Make Them
Step 1: Mix the batter. Prepare your pancake mix with water or milk according to the package directions, adding the canola oil as your mix calls for. Thirty minutes is all this takes from start to finish, so it's a true weekday-morning activity.
Step 2: Divide and color. Split the batter into a separate bowl or cup for each rainbow color. Add food coloring to each portion and stir until the colors are bright and even.
Step 3: Fill your piping bags. Pour each color into its own piping bag. Cut a small tip off each bag so you can draw thin, controlled lines of batter.
Step 4: Pipe your rainbow. On a hot griddle or skillet, pipe the colors in arcs — red on the outside, then each color inside the last — to form a rainbow. Finish with a dollop or small cloud shape at each end of the rainbow for the clouds.
Step 5: Cook and flip. Cook the pancakes until the surface is bubbly and the edges look set, then flip carefully and cook the other side until golden. Slide onto a plate and admire your work!
Step 6: Serve and enjoy. Serve the rainbow pancakes warm with your little one's favorite toppings. Then sit back and enjoy the smiles.
Tips
Keep the piping tip small. Thin lines give you the prettiest, most defined rainbow. You can always cut the tip bigger if the batter isn't flowing.
Work from the outside in. Starting with the largest arc and working inward keeps the rainbow shape tidy.
A warm (not screaming-hot) griddle is your friend. Too hot and the colors darken before you finish piping; medium heat gives you time to get the whole rainbow drawn.
Clouds make it. The little white clouds at the ends of the rainbow are what take this from "colored pancakes" to absolutely adorable. Don't skip them!
Let your toddler join in. Little ones can help stir the colors into the batter, name each color as you pipe it, and of course taste-test the clouds. It's a sneaky bit of color learning tucked into breakfast.
Thirty minutes, one bag of pancake mix, and a rainbow on a plate — breakfast doesn't get much more delightful than that. If you loved this, you might also enjoy our rainbow waffles activity for another colorful morning: https://www.goodnightfox.com/blog/2021/3/28/rainbow-waffles — and find even more rainbow ideas in my rainbow sensory activities roundup: https://www.goodnightfox.com/blog/rainbow
