Activities

Read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. Brainstorm different uses for different crayon colors such as a green sun or purple apple. Encourage the children in the writing center to use crayons in new, fun and inventive ways.

Have the children find pictures with bright colors in magazines; for example, things that are yellow. Assist the children with tearing the pictures out and gluing them on paper. Bind the pictures into a book.

Provide a set of colored discs in the science center. The children can combine them in a variety of ways to create different colors.

Freeze water in various containers. Place the ice on individual trays and provide liquid watercolors and medicine droppers. Demonstrate how to draw paint into the dropper to squeeze onto the ice.

After talking about mixing colors or reading the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh, assign each child a color. Take the class outside and encourage the children to find items that are the same as their assigned color.

When infants begin to hold a spoon, they are often also ready to hold a writing instrument. Give the infant a large crayon and paper. Encourage him/her to make marks. Model scribbling.

Present a lesson on mixing colors using paint. Then, encourage the children to create a piece of art using the colors they have created. This can be done in small group.

Provide small containers of colored water, droppers and coffee filters in the art center. The children can experiment with mixing colors together and dropping them on to the filters. Encourage them to share their results with each other.

Cover a table with butcher paper. Provide the children with crayons or markers and encourage them to scribble on the paper. Describe the marks the children make. Use different sizes and textures of paper.

Read the book Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert. Have the corresponding color shapes available for the children to match on the flannelboard as you read the story or to hold up when they see the color or shape they are holding.

Read Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert. Point out to the children how the artist created animals using different shapes. Provide some felt shapes and encourage the children to help you create some of the animals from the story.

First, have the children create colored water. Give each child a small container of water. Have him/her color the water with food coloring or with a fizzy color tablet used for dying eggs.

Say to the children “We are going to create a chemical reaction.” Show the children the baking soda. Have each child touch and discuss how it feels. Show the children the vinegar and let them smell it. Encourage more vocabulary.

During small group, introduce this song to help the children learn their colors. Sing it to the tune of “If You're Happy and You Know It”:
If you are wearing red, shake your head.
If you are wearing red, shake your head.

After learning about parts of a flower and their functions, try this prediction activity. You will need four or five white flowers, such as carnations, a clear cup to hold each flower, and four or five colors of food coloring.

Provide each child with colored paint sample cards found at paint stores. During ooutdoor time, encourage the children to match the sample colors with an item found in nature. Talk to them about the similarities and differences in the colors.

Uses descriptive language when exposing the infant to colors as they relate to the environment.

Come on over and sit right down.

Come on over and sit right down.

Come on over and sit right down.

It's group time.
Come on over and clap your hands.

Come on over and clap your hands.

After reading Karen Hesse's Come On, Rain, encourage the children to pretend it is raining and splash in the imaginary puddles during outdoor time.

Provide a template and photocopied pictures of the students, or other drawings, for comic book creation. Provide labels for the children to make typical comic book words such as “Bam!” or “Boom!” to stick on the pictures.