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Colors are all around us! Learning to match and then identify colors are important developmental milestones for preschool age children. Here are fifteen ideas to help your children along the way.
The following art projects also help develop fine motor skills. The recipes use math concepts and look at scientific changes. Language skills are growing rapidly in preschool age children, and dramatic play and reading out loud help feed the mind. No matter what curriculum area it falls in, each activity is part of a rainbow of fun things to do.
1) Rainbow Prints. Mix food coloring with water. Provide your child with an eyedropper. Show him how to drip the colored water onto a coffee filter. Hang from the ceiling with string.
2) Salt Jewels. In a small jar, (like a baby food container), mix 1 T. rubbing alcohol with a few drops of food coloring. Add several spoonfuls of rock salt. Tighten lid and shake. Spread on paper towel to dry. Children can use these "jewels" in a color collage. If you do not have rock salt, add different types of pasta. This will give you colored macaroni, etc.
3) Saran Wrap Pictures. Tape a square of plastic wrap in front of each child. Add a few drops of liquid soap that has been colored with food coloring. Children may paint with their fingers and hands. Add additional colors and discuss what happens when they mix. Allow to dry in place. Cut out a black frame from construction paper. Display your child's artwork in a window so the sun can shine through.
4) Rainbow Crayons. Gather broken bits of old crayons. Be sure all paper is removed. Combine the pieces in a muffin tin. Melt the crayons together in the oven, set at a low temperature. Allow the new crayons to cool and harden. Remove the new multi-colored crayons from the tin.
5) Goop. Mix together one cup of water, one cup of cornstarch, and a few drops of food coloring. Let the children explore this colored goop. Make dough in several different colors. Encourage your children's imagination as they create.
6) Streamer Dancing. Provide your children with different colored streamers. Play some music and encourage your children to dance around the room.
7) Simon Says. Vary the usual "Simon Says" with colors. Give each child an item to hold that is a specific color. Give instructions like "Simon says everyone with a red lego jump up and down."
8) Bubble Blast. Make colored bubbles using this homemade recipe. 1/4 C. dishwashing soap, 1 gallon water, 1 t. glycerin, a few drops of food coloring. (Glycerine is available at most phamarcies.) Take your children out doors. If you do not have bubble wands - use drinking straws, six pack rings, wire hangers bent into a circle shape, etc.
9) Balloons. Blow up several different colors of balloons. Have the children bounce the balloons to music. Or sit a group of children in a circle. Play music and have the children pass the balloons around the circle. When you stop the music, the children left holding the balloons must tell you what color they are.
10) I Spy. When you have a free moment, perhaps while driving in the car, play I Spy. Use the colors of the children's clothing as clues. For example, you may begin by saying "I spy something red with wheels that is right in front of us. What is it?" Let your children spy items for you to guess as well.
11) Color Bags. Use a lunch sack or grocery sack. Tape a colored square onto the outside. Fill it with items that are also that color. Sneak in a few that are the wrong color. Show the sack and explain. Let your children guess what might be in it. Then bring the items out one by one. When you get to a "wrong" object, let your child catch it. Leave the bag out in a special spot all day. Encourage children to put items they discover in it throughout the day.
12) Colorful Snack Ideas. Surprise children with a colorful snack. Add food coloring to milk, pancakes, mashed potatoes, etc. Or provide your children with unfrosted cupcakes or sugar cookies. Add a few drops of food coloring to whipped cream. Allow your children to decorate their dessert and eat.
13) Dramatic Play - Paint Store. Provide children with paintbrushes, buckets, toy cash registers, paint samples and so on. Let their imaginations do the rest.
14) Mixing Colors. Provide children with ice cube trays and eye droppers. Fill three cubes with colored water - red, blue, and yellow. Allow the children to mix the colors and see how many different shades they can create.
14) Pencil Tops. Give each child a 4 or 5 inch white card board circle. Let them choose two of the primary colors. Show them how to make colored dots all over the circle. Push a small pencil ( the short kind) through the center of the circle. Spin the top on the pencil tip. Watch the color dot whirl around and create a new color.
15) Color Cards. Obtain paint sample cards from a hardware store. Construct set of cards that begin with a very light shade and go to a very dark shade. Show your children how to sequence the cards from light to dark.
Booklist:
White is the Moon / by Valarie Greeley
Brown Cow, Green Grass, Yellow Mellow Sun / by Victoria Raymond
Growing Colors / by Bruce Macmillan
Oh, Were They Ever Happy / by Peter Spier
Color Zoo / by Lois Ehlert
Little Blue and Little Yellow / by Leo Lionni
Lunch / by Denise Fleming
I Feel Orange Today / by Patricia Godwin
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