Color Hunt
Color is everywhere from the blues and grays of the sky to the greens and yellows of the grass. For children, color is one of the first and most accessible adjectives to describe their world. If your walks around the neighborhood need a splash of adventure or you’re looking to engage your child in learning their colors, a color walk is a great opportunity. It’s also a wonderful way to exercise observation skills.
Materials:
- Container for collecting objects: a bucket, basket, box, anything to collect objects in as you walk.
- A color wheel to use as a guide. Here is the color wheel ICG uses.
- Glue (optional).
Using the color wheel as a guide, take a walk around your yard or neighborhood collecting small items that match the colors on your color wheel. You can set guidelines for your items such as only natural materials or only items that fit in your hand.
Noticing details in an environment is a learned skill and some younger children may benefit from a bit of encouragement. Adults and older children can help guide younger children by saying things like “I see something orange over there. Let’s go see what we can find.”
When you get home, look through the items you have collected. Try to match the objects with the colors on your wheel. Use any glue to attach the items to your color wheel. Not into the mess glue entails? Match your items to the colors on the color wheel and snap a photo.
Keep the color explorations going… on your next adventure, build off the basic color wheel, and explore shades of colors. Are all greens the same? What about yellows? How many different shades of brown can you find?
