← Nat Theo Nature Lessons Rooted in the Bible
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Hello world. Wake me up to another good Good morning. Time to go.
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Are you ready to explore God's wild and wonderful world? Welcome to the naptheo Podcast. I'm your host, Erin Lyneum. I'm a certified master naturalist, Bible teacher and author and I am so excited to dive into God's written word, the Bible, and His created world with. Can you remember a time when you saw a rainbow in the sky? Rainbows are beautiful and they are very special. I remember a rainbow that my family saw a few years ago. We were exploring up in the Rocky Mountains and we climbed a grassy hillside. All around us stood massive mountain summits. My daughter was only a few years old at the time and she stood on the grassy hill staring up at the sky. Above the blue sky poked through some dark rain clouds. Above my daughter there was a magnificently bright rainbow. The colorful bow looked like a frame around her. It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. No matter where we are at and what we're doing, a rainbow stops us in our tracks. When we see a rainbow, we are filled with awe. Why do rainbows create such a response inside of us? What makes them so special? Today we are exploring how God designed the rainbow with all of its colors and some surprising places that we might find rainbows in nature. Here is our trail map.
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Are you ready?
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We are going to learn what makes a rainbow? Why is a rainbow curved? Where do rainbows appear in nature? And how do rainbows remind us of God's promises? Before we get started, let's thank our sponsors who help make this lesson possible, including CTC Math. If you struggle with math, you are not alone. I struggle with it also, but I have grown in math with God's help and as I see how math helps us understand God's wild and wonderful world. CTC Math comes alongside students to help them catch up, keep up and move forward in math. This is certainly true in my home as my kids have excelled in math since starting with CT CTC Math's online math program two years ago. Students watch easy lesson videos to learn new concepts and master those concepts through practice questions. I love that CTC Math is a stress free approach and students move forward at their own pace. Try CTC Math risk free with a free trial and a 12 month money back guarantee at ctcmath.com or at the link in our show notes. If you are curious about rainbows, storms and snow or galaxies, meteorites, gemstones, volcanoes and fossils, you will love reading God's Design for Heaven and Earth by Master Books. This exciting course invites students grades three to eight into the wonders of water, weather and planet Earth. And like every book by Master Books, it is written from a biblical worldview to help families grow in faith and wisdom and wonder. If you love science, you will love God's design for Heaven and Earth by Master Books. Pick up a copy at the link in our show notes and visit masterbooks.com to explore their full library of nature and science books for kids and families. It's time for our trivia Question. Which of these could help you make a tiny rainbow at home? A A flashlight and a blanket B A sprinkler and sunlight C a book and a fan or D a mirror and a pillow? Again, which of these can help you make a tiny rainbow at home? A flashlight and blanket B sprinkler and sunlight C book and a fan or D mirror and a pillow? Take a guess and we will find out at the end of today's lesson and Nat Theo Club members, after listening to this lesson, click over to the bonus video where we will discover how God created two unique rainbows, the double rainbow and the fog bow, also called a ghost rainbow. You can find that bonus video in the show notes or your Nat Theo Club dashboard. All right, let's hit the trail. When have you seen rainbows? Sometimes we can guess as to when a rainbow will appear because they often appear after rain. But why does a rainbow show up after rain? What exactly makes a rainbow? Rainbows often appear during or after rain because water is one thing that makes a rainbow. To have a rainbow, there has to be water like from rain and light like from the sun. But the rain and the sun, they can't just be anywhere. To see a rainbow, the rain must be in front of us and the sun must be behind us and at a certain position in the sky. You see, the sun looks white to us, but it is made of all the colors that we can see. When the sun shines all of those colors at the same time, it appears white to us. So how exactly does the sunlight, which looks white, create a very colorful rainbow? One of our listeners asked this great question.
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Hi, my name is Madeline and I'm five years old and I live in Delaware. And my question is, why are rainbows so many colors?
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I am so glad you asked this because something amazing happens when the sunlight hits water droplets like from the rain. When sunlight enters a tiny water droplet like rain, the light bends. This bending of light is called refraction. Can you say that? Refraction. Light refraction is when Light bends as it moves from one material into another, like from the air into a raindrop. Something else happens as the light bends inside of the water droplet. Remember that light is made from all the colors that we can see. Each of those colors travels at a different speed. In the raindrop. The colors in the light begin separating because they travel at different speeds. And so the white light separates into unique bands of color. This is called light dispersion, when white light splits and spreads out into rainbow colors. So now, inside a tiny raindroplet, there is a beam of light showing different colors. That beam can bounce off the back of the water droplet, kind of like a tiny little mirror. Then the colors travel back out of the raindrop, bending or refracting one more time as they do. And then they travel down to our eyes below as we watch the beautiful rainbow. Think of it this way. Sunlight shines down to earth and hits some raindrops. The light enters the raindrops and bends inside each raindrop. The white light splits into all of the separate colors. Those colors bounce off the back of the raindrop like a mirror and bend again as they exit the raindrop and travel down to our eyes. Have you ever noticed that rainbows always have the same colors in the same order? Do you know what the colors of a rainbow are? I'm going to play music for a few moments, and as I do, I want you to see if you can name all of the colors inside a rainbow. The colors in a rainbow, from top to bottom are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Here's a fun trick for remembering the rainbow's colors. Use the name Roy. G BIV R O Y G B I V Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Why are the colors in a rainbow so orderly? Because the colors in sunlight bend by different amounts inside of the raindrops. Red bends the least, so it appears up on top. And violet bends the most, so it is shown on the bottom of the rainbow. Now, I admit rainbows can be a little difficult to understand, but they are not a mystery to God. God knew exactly how sunlight and water would work together in the air to create beautiful scenes for us to enjoy. Scenes that remind us of God's faithfulness and creativity and promises. God wrote the laws of nature and designed a rainbow to appear in just the right conditions. Now that we understand what makes the orderly colors of a rainbow, let's learn about a rainbow's unique shape, which looks like an arch. This brings up a great question from one of our listeners.
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Hi, my name is ethan and I'm 46 and I want to know my famous so we're turfy.
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What a wonderful question, Easton. Why are rainbows curvy? Rainbows look like an arch or a half circle to us, but they are actually a full circle. We simply cannot see the bottom half of the circle because it is blocked by the ground in front of us. A rainbow is a full circle opposite of the sun's position, and we normally only see the top half of that circle. So when someone talks about finding the end of a rainbow, it's actually impossible because a rainbow is a full circle. Sometimes people can see the full circle of a rainbow from an airplane. Since they are high up in the sky, the ground is not blocking their view of the lower half of the rainbow. You also cannot travel to where a rainbow is because it's not a solid object in a fixed space. The water droplets are in real locations up in the sky. But the rainbow you see depends on where you are standing and where the sun is. As you move, how you see the rainbow changes. That means if someone is standing near to you as you're watching the same rainbow, they see it a little bit differently than you see it because they are at a different angle and they are seeing the colors from a different set of raindrops than you are. In this way, a rainbow is kind of like an optical illusion, not a place that you can go to and visit. When I think about how a rainbow works with sunlight and all of its colors bending and splitting and reflecting back down to our eyes so we can see this beautiful scene, I am reminded of just how detailed our creator God is. Think of the rainbow's perfect shape and how each color shows up in just the right sequence. Rainbows remind us that God, our Creator, is a God of order, as 1 Corinthians 14:33 reminds us. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. Nature, including rainbows, shows us so much order, and science is the exciting adventure of discovering God's order and purpose in nature. All these orderly details remind me that God has everything under control. Colossians 1:16, 17 says, for through Him, Jesus, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him, and for Him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Whenever you see a rainbow with its perfect curve and orderly colors, you can remember that God is in control. He holds everything together in creation and in our lives. Have you ever seen a rainbow where you didn't expect to see one? Do you remember what is needed to make a rainbow? Water and light. So wherever there is a lot of water droplets and light, there is the potential for a rainbow. Have you ever seen a rainbow by a waterfall? I remember seeing a magnificently beautiful rainbow in front of a waterfall when my family and I were hiking with friends in the state of Oregon. Now that you understand how a rainbow is made from sunlight bending and splitting inside of water droplets. Why do you think a rainbow can form in front of a waterfall? If you have stood next to a waterfall, you might have gotten wet. There are a lot of water droplets falling and splashing at a waterfall. When sunlight hits all of those water droplets from the waterfall, the light bends, splits, bounces, and hits our eyes as separate colors, just like a rainbow in the sky. When the conditions are right and we pay attention, we can find rainbows all around us in nature. Think of all the places where water droplets are found. In fog, mist, sea spray, and even in the dew droplets on the grass in the morning. All of these are places where we can find rainbows. So we might find rainbows in other places than only up in the sky. But what about a rainbow at nighttime? Do rainbows only happen during the day? Or might we see one after the sun has set? One evening, I returned home late from a meeting, well after the sun had set below the horizon. That night, there was a full moon. And when I parked my car in the driveway and I stepped out, I looked up and I saw a magnificent sight. A rainbow around the full moon. Rainbows can indeed happen at night. During the day, it's normally the sun that creates a rainbow. So what light do you think makes a rainbow at night? Well, it is still the sun's light, but it's not coming directly from the sun. It is the sun's light reflected from a bright full moon. A full moon can create two kinds of nighttime rainbows. The first is called a moonbow. A moonbow is a faint rainbow created by moonlight that is directly opposite of the moon's position in the sky. Remember that when we see a rainbow during the daytime, the sun will be behind us. The same is true for a moonbow. If you happen to spot a rare moonbow, and I sure hope you do, the moon will be behind you. The second rainbow created by the moon is called a lunar halo. And this is what I saw that evening when I got out of my car. A lunar halo is a glowing ring around the moon, often with rainbow colors. It forms when moonlight passes through tiny ice crystals high in the sky which bend the light and make a circle of light around the moon. If you would like to see a lunar halo, I shared a video of one I spotted on my Instagram channel. Ask for an adult's permission to click the link in the show notes to see the Nighttime Rainbow I think it's beautiful that God creates many different kinds of rainbows throughout the day and night. Rainbows are mentioned a few times throughout God's Word, the Bible do you know the first and most well known rainbow in the Bible? We read about it after Noah and his family came off of the ark following the great flood when waters covered the earth while rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah and his family were on the ark for over a year before the waters went down and they could come off the ark. Can you imagine not stepping foot on solid ground for over a year? And they had been through so much during that year. Picture them finally coming off the ark only to find the earth completely different from what they knew before. There was so much death surrounding them, so many living things had perished during the flood. It would have been very hard to experience. But then God made them a promise and gave them something beautiful to help them remember that promise. Listen to Genesis 9 verses 12 to 17 chapter and God said, this is the sign of the agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. I am putting my rainbow in the clouds as the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and a rainbow appears in them, I will remember my agreement between me and you and every living thing. Floods will never again destroy all life on earth. When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and I will remember the agreement that continues forever between me and every living thing on the earth. So God said to Noah, the rainbow is a sign of the agreement that I made with all the living things on earth. So God marked the rainbow as a spirit special reminder of his promise. Every time we see a rainbow, whether it's arching across the sky after a storm, next to a waterfall, or even at night around the moon, we can remember that God loves us and he takes care of us. Do you remember what shape a rainbow is? It looks like an arch to us because the ground blocks the lower half of it from our sight. But a rainbow is a full circle. So think about this. A rainbow has no end and God's promises have no end either. Lamentations 32223 tells us the Lord's love never ends. His mercies never stop. They are new every morning. Lord, your loyalty is great. We learned that rainbows can happen after a storm and even at night. In a similar way, God's promises are available to us right in the storms of life and even in the darkness. When life is hard or it feels dark, we can glimpse God's love like a rainbow shining through storm clouds and appearing in the night sky. Sky no matter what you are facing, God's promises can hold you up and give you hope. Why not memorize some promises from His Word this week? Perhaps read, write down, sing and memorize these verses. Psalm 32:8, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:27 and Matthew 11:28. And remember, God's promises are true every day and every night. Psalm 42:8 says, but each day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to the God who gives me life. It's time to answer a question from one of our listeners. Here is today's question.
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Hi, my name is Logan and I live in Idaho. I am 6 years old and my question is what gives Ann Mortars color?
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Thank you Logan. Your mom told me that specifically you would like to know how birds get colors in their feathers, which is an excellent question. God designed birds in so many shapes, sizes and colors. They are a beautiful display of his creativity. But what gives a bird's feathers their colors? Many birds have faint or duller colors during part of the year, but in mating seasons the male birds so the boy birds need to turn bright colors to attract a mate. One way some birds change the color of their feathers is by eating foods with something in them called carotenoids. Carotenoids can help change their feathers into bright yellow, orange or red colors. Yellow goldfinches and red cardinals get their beautiful colors in this way through what they eat. Carotenoids come from plants like sunflower seeds, so birds can get the carotenoids by eating plants such as seeds and fruits or insects that eat the plants with carotenoids in them. Not all birds get their color through what they eat. God also designed many birds with beautiful colors and even shiny colors through tiny shapes inside their feathers that bend and bounce light, kind of like we learned about with rainbows today. This is called structural color in the bird's feathers. God designed birds to be all different colors and he created the different ways for their feathers to produce and show those colors. Thanks for your great question, Logan. Stay curious about God's wild and wonderful world and that the OCL Club members remember after this lesson to click over to the bonus video where we will discover two unique rainbows that God made, the Double Rainbow and the Fogbow, also called the Ghost Rainbow. Find a link to that bonus video in your Nat Theo Club Dashboard or the link in our Show Notes. It's time to answer our trivia question. Which of these could help you make a tiny rainbow at home? A a flashlight and a blanket b a sprinkler and sunlight c a book and a fan or d a mirror and a pillow? The answer is B a sprinkler and the sunlight to make a rainbow in your own yard, turn on a sprinkler or a hose if you don't have a sprinkler and let it spray a mist of water into the air, then stand with the sun positioned behind you and look toward the water droplets. If the angle is just right, sunlight will shine into the drops and form a rainbow. You may need to move around a little until you find the best spot to see it clearly. Now it's your turn to explore. Go on a hunt for rainbows. Watch for them during the day after it rains. Search for them near waterfalls or in the ocean breeze. See if you can spot mini rainbows in the fresh dew on grass in the morning. And if it's a full moon, ask an adult's permission to go outside and look for a rare moonbow or lunar halo. Every time you see a rainbow. Thank God for His promises which do not end. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this lesson on the rainbow, please please take a moment to send it to a friend and subscribe. Rate and review Nat Theo wherever you listen. Until next time, keep exploring God's wild and wonderful world.
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We are all looking for adventure. We are all looking for adventure. We are all looking for adventure. We are all looking for adventure.
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Have you ever collected toad eggs and hatched tadpoles? Or watched baby ladybugs hatching from eggs? That's what my family has been doing this week. It's the perfect season for nature study and we invite you to join us for Magnify A Wild and Wonderful Summer Adventure by Nat Theo Discover God's creation right where you live as you find frogs, butterflies, animal tracks, birds and so much more. Become a Junior Naturalist for God's Kingdom. Join today at natttheo.com magnify to access the full summer guide and tune in for live video classes where you will learn from me and share your discoveries with other students. Don't wait. Join today, start exploring and get ready for our live video classes in magnify@natttheo.com magnify or the link in our show notes.