It started with a few rainbows in the front windows of homes in Italy.

Hand-drawn rainbows of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple decorated windows across cities. Children made the rainbows with markers, crayons, and paint, and displayed them with hopeful messages. Soon, there were hundreds, then thousands, and parents in cities across Europe and in the U.S. began encouraging children to decorate windows with rainbows.

A child placing homemade rainbows in the window of their home, during COVID-19 pandemic.

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Facebook pages popped up with pictures of young artist with their rainbows. One UK-based group called Believe in Rainbows explained, “Our children won’t be able to see their friends. Create a rainbow picture to display in your window so that children can go rainbow spotting whilst out for walks.”

The movement then began to evolve beyond displaying rainbows of all sizes but including words of encouragement and appreciation with hand-made signs that “stay safe,” “be kind” and “thank you” to emergency workers and others on the front lines such as delivery drivers.

Rainbows displayed in windows, created by children, as a means to thank essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

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The global rainbow movement has also inspired Amazon. We want to thank our employees and other essential workers who continue to do their jobs, enabling many people to stay home.

an animation of a rainbow that transitions to a message of thanks for essential workers

We also appreciate those who have helped the world connect through the simple beauty of a rainbow.

If inclined, place a rainbow in your window to thank all of those serving on the other side of the glass, and share an image on social channels with these hashtags: #believeinrainbows #rainbowsofhope #rainbowwindow #rainbowsinwindows.

Look for the rainbows