Colors

I think I say every theme is a favorite theme, but I really do love teaching about colors! My main objective is to teach them the 3 primary colors, and then which ones to mix to make secondary colors. We mix colors over and over, then talk about it all year, so I hope it sticks!

Dramatic Play

Paint Store










This was their first time with the cash register and they loved it, so of course there were tears and sharing issues too. One rule I have with sharing is that "part of sharing is waiting." The kids often accuse a child of not sharing, really meaning that the other child won't hand over what they want when they want it, which isn't a realistic expectation. So I remind them that part of sharing is waiting for our friend to finish, and I help them ask their friend, "can I use that when you're done?" After they've asked, I encourage them to find something else to do while they wait, and I also remind the friend with the sought-after toy, that someone is waiting for a turn and to let them know when they're done. I also reminded them it would be out for 4 days, so there'd be plenty of times for turns. Sure enough, by day 3, there was no more fighting over it because it wasn't new anymore.

The kids loved being the store employees and the customers. The customers, especially, had a fun time "painting" every surface of the preschool with their paint cans and brushes. There was a lot of great social play, conversation, and problem solving. They also learned to clean up after themselves.


Blocks

Mega Blocks


Waffle Blocks


Duplo Legos for 2 days

Art

Easel painting with primary colors


Dot markers


White slime and markers (I make my slime thick enough that they can color it-and we use my dried up markers bin, since they won't color on paper, but will color on slime, and they can't ruin dried up markers) They can also choose to play with the slime if they don't want to color, or as they color it.
     




Glue and jello shakers. It's a messy art and requires me nearby to help dump the used powder back into jars, but it's a preschool favorite, and makes the room smell so good!


Small Manipulatives

Color folder games




Paint chip clothespin matching, clothespin horse color matching






Colored links


Pom poms and tweezers with rainbow cards, and pom poms with tubes to drop them through
     
Writing Table

Colored pens

Color word stickers


Rainbow scratch paper


ABC Stickers

Snack

We had rainbow goldfish crackers, and sorted the by color before we ate them. I forget how little they are, but after being shown what to do, they could do it!

We made painted toast. We used colored milk, and brush a little onto white bread with a pastry brush to color it (too much will be soggy). We used primary colors so they could see the results of mixing them.


We made smoothies with every color of the rainbow. I had the frozen fruit divided in bowls by color, and they each got to add a piece of each one, then we blended it to see what color it made in the end. We used strawberries, a banana, green grapes, peaches, blueberries, and purple grapes. I was surprised how few kids would even taste it. I ask them to at least try everything, then only eat it if they like it. Most at least tried it, but some wouldn't even do that.

Outside

The sensory table had white containers, then bottles of water in primary colors. They could mix the colors in the white bowls and see what colors they made, then dump them out and try again. I refilled them each day, so they got plenty of turns to mix the colored water.
     

We did sheet spraying, with spray bottles of colored water. It's a great small motor skill because it uses their little muscles to spray, plus they're mixing colors again.


Large Group

Our new songs this week are Scat the Cat, Mitch the Fish, Colors in a Pot, and Sing a Rainbow

Our word of the week is Primary Colors

Day 1, we watched this great Primary Color video from Sesame Street.

We read White Rabbit's Color Book. Then we set up our experiment. We placed color water in 6 clear jars, 2 for each primary color. Then we paired them together with a paper towel leading out of each one, into another jar. They were paired to mix the primary colors to mix. So, red and blue, red and yellow, and yellow and blue.
We also put the primary color cards on the wall.


Day 2, we checked our paper towels and found that the colored water spread up the paper towels and dripped into the empty jars, mixing the primary colors to make the secondary colors.
We read Mouse Paint. We added the secondary color cards to the wall like a color wheel. We used a color dice to play a color sorting game.


Day 3, we read Freight Train and worked on sorting by sorting buttons and bugs by the colors of the train cars.


Day 4, we read Elmer the Elephant, then made an Elmer picture. They had an elephant picture, and painted on tissue paper colored squares by using liquid starch. They turned out so great!

Small Group

Week 1, my group worked with me making a play doh color wheel. We mixed the primary colors together. It's hard work at this age, and I had kids telling me they couldn't do it, but I remind them they can if they try, and we worked those colors together until they mixed.
The other group played with color puzzles.


Week 2, my group mixed primary paint colors to make secondary colors.
The other group colored in their journals about their favorite colors, I added their words as they finished coloring.

Colors

Parents, sorry I have not stayed as caught up on the blog as I should! The goal is to post the weekend after the theme, but life has been too crazy to get to it. I am caught up now, and should hopefully stay that way now! 3 kids are crazy, plus my husband works from home on our computer, so I have to wait until night, when we're much busier. That problem has now been solved, and I should stay more caught up. Thanks for your patience!

Dramatic Play



Paint Store. Thanks to all of our painting projects this year with the bathroom remodel, and building the play house, I had lots of empty paint cans for the store. Lots of brushes and stir sticks too. The color samples were gathered from Lowes and Home Depot, then I just added the cash register and shopping carts.

As usual, the cash register was a hit, and they spent a lot of time shopping for blocks and scanning the legos on the belt. I guess the paint cans were just too big!

The paint supplies were a hit all on their own. While I did see kids buying paint, they just loved taking the cans and brushes all over the room to paint the walls and furniture. It was a lot of fun.

Blocks (I forgot to take pics)

Week 1, we had out waffle blocks. These are new, donated by a sweet neighbor, and are a huge hit! They can build tracks and roads easily, and they loved that.

Week 2, we had out Duplo legos, then the foam blocks.

Art
Day 1, we simply painted with primary color paint, so they could start exploring with mixing colors.

Day 2, we used colored beads to make necklaces and bracelets.

Day 3, we had tubs full of baking soda, and bottles of red, yellow, and blue colored vinegar. This is more sensory than art, and they loved it! They not only got to experiment with mixing colors, but they got to watch it fizz and bubble too. They were so great at sharing, as well. Each kid got one tub and could use it until their vinegar was gone, then they let someone else have their seat while they played something else.


















Once everyone was done, we used the art table to make their painted toast for snack. I colored some milk red, yellow, and blue, and they used pastry brushes to brush it onto bread, then we toasted it.

Day 4, we did Jello art. They had glue and shakers full of different colors and flavors of Jello to sprinkle on. They had a lot of fun with this too and I had a huge stack of pictures afterwards! It was messy, but the room smelled so good for days! Way better than the vinegar day :)

 

Small Manipulatives

Paint chip cards with matching clothespins

Folder games

Rainbow cards with pom poms and tweezers

Color puzzles










 

Colored horses with matching clothespin legs















Color Dinosaurs


Snack

Our color-specific snacks were colored goldfish that we sorted before we ate them, and the painted toast.

Sensory Table
Days 1 and 4, I had bottles of primary colored water that they could mix in clear tubs. This was a huge hit both days, and I loved seeing all the color combinations they created!
I forgot to take a pic, but here's one from last year:
 

Days 2 and 3, we checked on our decomposing pumpkin and observed its changes.

Large Group

Day 1, we read White Rabbit's Color Book and added colored water to cups with paper towels sticking out of them to start an experiment.

Day 2, we read Mouse Paint and checked on our experiment. The colors had risen up the paper towels, and dripped into the empty cups to mix and make new colors. We mixed the remaining colors, just to get to watch them change.

Day 3, we watched this Primary Colors video (several times, by popular demand), and read Color Train, then sorted things by color.

Day 4, we read The Mixed Up Chameleon. We then painted paper plates to make our changing chameleons.

We also learned 3 new songs, Mitch the Fish, Scat the Cat, and a rainbow song.

I'm Scat the Cat, I'm a happy cat,
if you don't like my color, you can change it like that!

I'm Mitch the Fish, I can swim and I can swish,
I can change my color, if I wish!

Small Group
Miss Kim was not able to come these last 2 weeks, so these activities were actually done as a whole group, instead. The kids did very well!!

Day 1, we read Freight Train, then searched for colors around the room. You can even see that chairs and bean bags were brought over! They had so much fun sorting.

Day 3, we mixed play dough together to make our color wheels.

Day 4, we made paint mixing worksheets and mixed all the primary colors together to make secondary colors.


We mixed the primary colors in so many different ways, on every day, so I hope the kids remember now all the colors they can make from the primary colors! We had a fun and messy week playing with color!