Music
• Sing Hap Palmer’s songs “Parade of
Colors“ and “I Can Sing a Rainbow,”
or other color-themed songs.
• Fill glass baby food jars to various
levels with water and add food
coloring to make each jar a different
color. Tap jars lightly with a pencil
to hear their “notes.” Make up a
short tune and record it on paper by
coloring dots to match the jars.
Science
• On a sunny day, create a rainbow
by spraying a fine mist of water
from a hose. Or, shine sunlight onto
a white surface through a prism.
Discuss how “white” light is made
of many different colors.
• Fill a clear cup with hot water and
another with ice water. Drop food
coloring into each, but do not stir.
Which cup mixes more quickly?
Active Play
• Play “Simon Says”with colors. Have
students stand on colored paper
squares. Then give directions such
as “Simon Says, all reds jump up
and down!” or “Simon Says, greens
and blues change places!”
• Have a color scavenger hunt. Each
team picks a color flash card from a
bag, then tries to find objects of that
color outdoors or in the classroom.
Language
Colors
Cooking
• Cut up fruits and vegetables and
arrange them in a rainbow of colors:
purple grapes, red tomatoes, etc.
• Help students plan, prepare and eat
a single-color lunch or snack. A
yellow lunch might include macaroni
& cheese with corn and lemonade.
• Read Green Eggs and Ham. Then, use
food coloring to dye scrambled eggs
and ham. Do they taste different?
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(800) 428-4414
www.lakeshorelearning.com
Art
• Use the recipe on the back of this
card to make play dough in several
colors. Knead two colors together
to make a new color.
• Apply layers of tissue paper scraps
to wax paper using liquid starch to
create “stained glass windows.”
• Put droplets of food coloring onto
coffee filters, then mist with water
to create a tie-dye effect.
• Play a circle game. The first child
says, “My name is ____, my favorite
color is ____, and I like (a food that
matches the color).” The next child
repeats the previous child’s statement and then adds her own.
• Assign a different color for each
day’s show and tell. Have students
bring objects from home that match
the color and talk about them.
Dramatic Play
Math
• Use food coloring to color water in
small cups. Then use eyedroppers to
combine droplets of colored water on
wax paper. How many drops of blue
and red do you need to make purple?
• Give groups of students small bags of
colorful candies. Have each group
count the different colors in their bag
and compare results. Are the bags all
the same?
• Discuss how colors can represent
emotions (red = angry, blue = sad,
pink = happy, etc.). Create cone hats
from colored paper and have children
act out moods as they wear the hats.
• Encourage students to pretend they
are community workers with colored
uniforms. Police wear blue uniforms,
doctors wear white jackets, highway
workers wear orange vests and so on.
LA631
Ages 3+
Colors
Colors can delight, soothe or energize—and knowing how to identify colors is an
important skill. The Colors Theme Box is full of materials that will assist you in
teaching your students about the world of color. We’ve also included a web full
of activities to help you integrate the colors theme across the curriculum.
Using the Materials
Mouse puppet
• Dress the mouse puppet in one of the T-shirts to introduce the “color of the
day” (or week). Challenge students to find objects around the classroom that
match the mouse’s shirt. Invite any students who are wearing the color of the
day to take on special classroom jobs, such as leading students to the
playground or passing out reproducibles.
Sorting bowls, pom-poms and craft sticks
• Have students sort the pom-poms and craft sticks by color and place them in
their matching colored bowls.
• Place several pom-poms in a row, using alternating colors to create a simple
pattern such as red, blue, red, blue. Challenge students to continue the pattern
or duplicate it using the craft sticks.
Suggested Reading
Color Dough
Animals Brightly Colored
by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes
Freight Train
by Donald Crews
Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr. Seuss
Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue?
by Tana Hoban
Little Blue and Little Yellow
by Leo Lionni
Mary Wore Her Red Dress and
Henry Wore His Green Sneakers
by Merle Peek
My Crayons Talk
by Patricia Hubbard
Of Colors and Things
by Tana Hoban
Planting a Rainbow
by Lois Ehlert
Purple, Green and Yellow
by Robert Munsch
Make three portions of this dough (one
each in yellow, blue and red). Children
can mix the doughs to make new colors.
Color flash cards
• Invite students to say the name of the color on a flash card and then name an
object that is or could be that color.
• Place the cards facedown on
a table and play a memory
People Colors
game.
Like most things in nature, people come in a wide assortment of beautiful colors!
Differences in eye, hair and skin colors make each person unique. Help students
Kaleidoscope
appreciate their diversity with these fun activities.
• Set the kaleidoscope in your
• Draw an outline of a boy and a girl on separate pieces of paper and duplicate
science center for children
one for each student. Encourage them to create self-portraits using crayons or
to explore.
colored markers to add hair, eyes and other features in their own unique colors.
Apples
• Create a simple bar graph on chart paper to show the different eye colors in your
• Use the red, yellow and green
class. Write the names of eye colors across the bottom of the graph, and have
apples to spark a discussion
each student place a sticker in the column above her own eye color. Compare
about how similar objects can
the numbers of stickers in each column—which eye color is the most common?
be different colors.
• Have students bring in photos of themselves. Prepare a blank Venn diagram by
Book
drawing two large overlapping circles on your classroom board. Label one circle
• Read the book to your class
“brown hair,” and the other “blue eyes.” Have each student tape her photo to
and discuss the story with
the correct place on the diagram. Discuss the results: how many students have
your students.
brown hair and blue eyes? How many blue-eyed students do not have brown hair?
Directions:
1. Mix together in a bowl:
• 1⁄3 cup cold water
• 1⁄3 cup salt
• 1⁄2 tsp. vegetable oil
• Several drops of food coloring
2. Stir for about one minute to dissolve
some of the salt.
3. Stir in:
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
4. Knead the dough until it has a
smooth consistency.
5. To store, refrigerate in a sealed
plastic bag or airtight container.
Color Shades and Tints
Discuss color variation. How are pink
and red alike? How is purple different
from lavender? Is turquoise more like
blue or green?
• Bring in an assortment of color chips
from a paint store. Cut the colors
apart and help students sequence
different shades of one color, such as
brown, from palest (beige) to deepest (mahogany).
• Sort a giant set of crayons by color
groups—different shades of blue,
green, red, etc. Then put the crayons
in rainbow order to build a spectrum
from red all the way to violet.
• Use an eyedropper to add food
coloring to a small, clear cup with
milk in it. Add only one droplet at a
time. Observe and discuss the changes.