Don't restrict children to bright primary colours in their work or their environment, says Lena Engel - let them experiment
Early learning goal Explore colour... in two and three dimensions
Give your creative activities a new look by planning for children to learn about colour in exciting ways. Since sighted children are exposed to a multi-coloured environment from birth, it is surprising how narrowly their focus may be channelled if they are offered only strong primary colours for creative activities. This may be due to the long-held assumption that young children need bright contrasting colours to see objects clearly and that their level of language prohibits them from learning vocabulary to describe subtler shades of colour.
In fact, as with all other aspects of learning, children largely succeed or fail according to practitioners' expectations. They can learn to distinguish the kaleidoscope of colours that greets them every day and become acquainted with the rich vocabulary needed to describe them. Practitioners should support children by providing a stimulating visual environment. Children need activities that encourage them to experiment with and investigate colour. Also they need the correct level of adult support to learn the new words that reflect their growing understanding of the subject.
Sand
Children love to play with sand. It possesses the qualities of free-flowing water but it is dry to the touch. Pouring dry sand from one container to another and feeling it slip through the fingers is therapeutic for children. And the security of knowing that they are fully in control of the process gives them a sense of achievement and confidence. Invite children to mix different coloured powder paint with sand and encourage them to investigate the new substance that is created.
Resources
- Provide medium-sized washing-up bowls, one for each child; a large bowl full of sand; a set of smaller dishes, each containing a different colour of powder paint; tools such as soup ladles, spoons, whisks and small sieves; and an apron for each child.
- This activity may work best outdoors because it is likely to create some mess, but it is just as easily organised indoors on a table or a mat.
Good practice
- Allow children to enjoy the whole experience. There is no end product, just lots of mixing, pouring, ladling and whisking. They should transfer sand from the large bowl into each of their smaller ones and then choose the colours to mix with the sand.
- Suggest that they experiment with the tools and observe how they practise many fine motor skills through handling them.
- Interact sensitively by talking about what they are doing and introduce the correct words to describe the colours that they make and the names of any unfamiliar tools.
- Invite the children to imagine all sorts of magic potions that they could be creating.
- Compare the activity to other experiences such as mixing ingredients or making mud pies.
Extension work
Make sand collages by encouraging the children to dip their fingers into glue, draw marks and finger pictures on cardboard and then shake the sand over the card. The sand will stick to the parts covered with glue, and their picture will appear.
Fruit
It is common for many children to learn the names of colours as they recognise fruits - oranges are orange, tomatoes are red. This can be a very successful method of teaching, so you could introduce children to subtler colours by investigating fruit that may be unfamiliar to them. Examining fruit is always popular with children because they look forward to eating it. Plan this activity to coincide with food breaks.
Resources
- Choose a wide selection of fruit, including some exotic ones such as kumquats, lychees and figs.
- Provide small dishes of water, in which to wash the fruit, a knife and chopping board for each child, and a large plate for the chopped fruit.
- Provide reference books about fruit.
Good practice
- Encourage the children to handle the fruit before it is cut or opened. Do they know the names of the fruit? If not, talk about its colour, shape and appearance. Get them to smell it and feel it. Encourage them to make up their own name for it.
- From reference books, find out the name of the fruit, where it is grown and the climate in which it grows.
- Invite the children to think of ways to eat it. Don't impose any preconceptions about how to eat the fruit. For example, a fig can be eaten in the skin. Remind them, though, that they should wash it first.
- Talk about the colour of the fruit as it is sliced and investigate each part.
- Introduce adjectives such as pale, deep, light and dark to qualify the descriptions of colour they may use.
- Develop children's observational skills by drawing their attention to any signs of ripening and specks of colour on the surface or inside the fruit.
Extension work
Provide good-quality paper and pastel crayons, which are similar to wax crayons but come in subtler shades, for making close observational drawings of the exotic fruit. It is surprising how intricate and detailed children's work can become when they are fully engaged in the process of representing what they see and know. Earlier discussions about the range of colours of the fruit will be of particular help when they choose their pastel crayons.
Animals
As children develop, challenge them with more sophisticated explorations of colour. The study of animals presents some interesting possibilities.
Resources
- Provide a selection of books about wild animals, with clear pictures and text, and a selection of model animals, which the children can handle while they discuss them.
- Make a collection of photographs of wild animals for the children to share.
- Prepare resources well in advance and ask parents to bring in unusual examples of toy or model animals.
Good practice
- Invite a small group of children into a quiet area where they are less likely to be distracted and show them the books, model animals and pictures.
- Compare animals whose brilliant colours make them stand out from their environment with those whose colours merge with their natural habitat. Parrots, for example, often display bright plumage, standing out against the dark foliage in the rain forest canopy. However, they also resemble local large exotic flowers so they can hide effectively from their enemies, such as tree snakes. Zebras, tigers and stingrays, whose skin mirrors the colour and patterns of the sea floor, merge into their environment.
- Discuss what you find and provide children with the language to describe the look and behaviour of the animals that interest them.
Extension work
Encourage children to design and construct simple habitats for the toy and model animals. Encourage them to use natural materials such as grass, straw, bark and pebbles. Alternatively, they may want to create a jungle scene by painting large leaves that can be attached to bamboo and making flowers with twisted tissue paper.
Help the children to display the animals against the backdrops that they have created and to write labels for the animals and their habitats.
Artists' colours
Exploring colour used by famous artists is an effective way of encouraging young children to understand how artworks have been created. Impressionist artists, such as Monet, used colour to create the sense of the landscape. Show the children a reproduction of Monet's 'Waterlilies' and ask what the picture is about before you tell them the title. Investigate the colours that have been used and their effects. Compare this painting with Monet's 'Poplars', in which tall trees are reflected in a canal. Suggest that the children create paintings using and adapting Monet's techniques.
Resources
- Provide large painting tables so children can sit together and discuss their artwork as it progresses.
- Provide small pots of poster paints, water and fine paintbrushes and good quality A4 paper.
- Provide finger paints too, in case the children decide they want to add texture with thicker paint.
Good practice
- Support language development by involving children in discussion.
- Show you can listen attentively and respond with interest to comments.
- Talk about the way famous artists used colour in their work.
- Provide reference books about the work of famous artists.
- Create a gallery space in your classroom where children can display their works of art.