Fun Activities for Teaching Colors to Kids
Teaching colors to your kids can be done in so many different ways! The wonderful thing is, we live in a world full of color, which means you can use almost any setting around you to teach your kids their colors!
I’ve found that my kids learn best when they’re able to use as many of their senses as possible, so I like to use the environment around us as much as I can. Whether it’s in the home or outside, you can modify these activities for helping your kids learn all their colors.
How to Teach Colors to Your Kids
This is a very fun and interactive way to introduce colors and their variations to your kids–whether they’re little toddlers or preschoolers. It involves free paint swatches and getting outdoors!
The good news is, you will only need a few supplies! To get started, you’ll need to go to a hardware store–you know, the kind your husband drags you to once in a while–and pick up a few items.
Materials Needed:
- Paint swatches from the hardware store
- Craft glue
- A piece of paper
- A clipboard
Go to the paint department and grab a few sample cards. You can grab a variety or keep it simple, it really doesn’t matter. I like to pick some solid colors, cards with several shades of one color, and multicolored paint swatches.
Once you have all of your color cards picked out, glue the cards to a piece of paper, then clip the paper to a clipboard.
A Nature Walk School Lesson
Go for a walk and have your kids try to match the colors on the cards to what they find on your walk. If you find a flower that’s pink, ask them which shade of pink they think it is. Is it dark pink? Is it light pink?
What about the stem? Ask them to match every part of the flower to a color. Notice the branches, the leaves, the roots, even the bugs! Can you match the color to your paint cards?
My kids still remember the very first day we did this, it was so special for them!
While on our color finding adventure, we found ourselves exploring the entire neighborhood. We discovered a neighbor’s magnificent garden filled with beautiful flowers of all colors–what a treat!
My kids excitedly began color-matching, and while they were lost in the world of nature, the elderly lady who lived in the house came outside to ask us what we were doing. When I told her, it made her so happy to see her garden being appreciated by little kids that she invited us to check the rest of the flowers on the side of the house!
My kids are still friends with this neighbor, who is now 92 years old and the sweetest lady ever!
You never know where your search for colors might lead you!
Matching Game
Another fun activity is to use objects in the house such as toys, clothing, or items in the kitchen and try to match them up with similar color shades.
Materials Needed:
- Any household objects you don’t mind your kids playing with.
You can get as creative with this game as you want. Pretend you are scientists with an artifact and need to find a matching color for the sake of discovery!
Or perhaps your kids are detectives and the first colored object you have is a clue that leads you to your next… clue!
Color Finder Game
Here is a fun way to keep the creative learning going and add a little competition amongst siblings. The Color Finder Game can be played in the house or outside and only involves a few swatches of colors, combined with some evaluation and critical thinking skills. This game is fun for ALL ages…even the preschoolers can play.
Materials Needed:
- Paint swatches or small pieces of paper with a different color on each paper.
- Scissors
How to Play the Color Finder Game
First, cut the paint swatches into small rectangle cards, so that there is only one color per card.
Place the “color cards” face down in a pile. The first card is turned over.
The players then go to look for an object that has a color shade close to that color.
The player that made the closest match to that shade (ie: lime green compared to forest green) gets to keep that card.
When all the cards have been turned over, the player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
** This is a fun game to play in a park with lots of flowers, grass, branches, and leaves!
Living in a World of Color
All of these color games are super easy to play and as well as budget friendly. As your kids explore the world of color all around them, their eyes are being opened to the beauty everywhere. Maybe you’ll get a newfound appreciation for colors too!
