After the TV series was cancelled, LeVar Burton received the copyright and developed an iOS educational app. In 2014, Burton decided to do a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to establish Reading Rainbow as an Android app and a class reading supplement resource for underfunded schools. The 30-day campaign's initial goal, $1 million, was raised within 11 hours. At the end of the full campaign, over $6 million had been raised. Seth MacFarlane contributed $1 million when the campaign hit $5 million.
LeVar Burton hosted the series while co-starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). The Bionic Bunny Show (1988), the most popular episode of all time, featured a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Star Trek TNG. It included a set of TNG bloopers, the only legal release of such material until the Blu-Ray releases from 2012-2014.
While developing the show, the creators of Reading Rainbow met with Fred Rogers and Joan Ganz Cooney of Sesame Street (1969) and The Electric Company (1971) fame to find out how to make more engaging television programming.
Paige Turner, a Texas/Oklahoma-based wrestler whose gimmick is a wrestling librarian, has used a rock version of the show's theme song as entrance music.
During its airing on PBS, Reading Rainbow (1983) sponsored a story contest from 1996 to 2009, where children aged 5 to 8 would submit stories with their own illustrations. The first contest offered grand prizes including home computer systems and xerox printers, and VCRs for second prize, along with all participants receiving a certificate of participation. After Reading Rainbow (1983) left the air in 2009, the contest became the PBS Writer's Contest.