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Explore Color

Teaching Strategies

Week 1: Exploring Shades of Color

Curriculum Planner

Children explore the different colors they see around them and investigate different shades of the same color. They’ll make light and dark shades using paint and food coloring, and look closely at colors in nature. On Friday, they’ll examine different tones of skin color—in a book, art project, and in their own lives.

 

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Morning Circle

25 – 35 minutes

Introduce Color

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Favorite Color Gallery

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Is It Red? Is it Yellow? Is it Blue?

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Color Hunt

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Colors Everywhere

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Shades of Green

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Colors Everywhere

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Sorting Shades

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: The Colors of Us

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Skin Tone Collage

(10 – 15 min.)

Learning Centers

15 – 30 minutes

Learning Centers
Click here to go to this week's learning centers.

Guided Activity

20 – 30 minutes

Outdoor Color Walk

(20 – 30 min.)

Many Shades: Food Coloring

(20 – 30 min.)

Many Kinds of Green

(20 – 30 min.)

Many Shades: Paint

(20 – 30 min.)

Exploring Skin Colors

(20 – 30 min.)

Closing Circle

10 – 15 minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Week’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)
Week 2
Day 1

Day 1

Today, children explore different colors indoors and outdoors, and describe their favorite color. 

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Introduce Color
Begin exploring the colors around us.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Favorite Color Gallery
What’s your favorite color?

Learning Centers

Library Center
Books about color.
Food Coloring
Make different colors and shades with food coloring and water.
Paints
Make different colors and shades with paint.
Color Sorting
Sort and categorize different-colored objects.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Outdoor Color Walk
What colors do we see outside?

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about color.
Day 2

Day 2

Children continue to explore colors around them and begin noticing different shades of the same color.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: Is It Red? Is it Yellow? Is it Blue?
Discover the different colors in our world.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Color Hunt
Match colored paper to something in the room.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Books about color.
Food Coloring
Make different colors and shades with food coloring and water.
Paints
Make different colors and shades with paint.
Color Sorting
Sort and categorize different-colored objects.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Many Shades: Food Coloring
Make many shades of a single color, using food coloring and clear water.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about color.
Day 3

Day 3

Today children investigate different shades of green, both indoors and outdoors. 

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: Colors Everywhere
Notice and talk about all the colors that fill our world.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Shades of Green
Make a collage with different shades of green.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Books about color.
Food Coloring
Make different colors and shades with food coloring and water.
Paints
Make different colors and shades with paint.
Color Sorting
Sort and categorize different-colored objects.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Many Kinds of Green
Examine the many different kinds of green found in nature.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about color.
Day 4

Day 4

Children continue to focus on different shades of the same color.  

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: Colors Everywhere
Photographs capture the colors that surround us.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Sorting Shades
Sort different shades of colors.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Books about color.
Food Coloring
Make different colors and shades with food coloring and water.
Paints
Make different colors and shades with paint.
Color Sorting
Sort and categorize different-colored objects.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Many Shades: Paint
Making lighter shades of paint.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about color.
Day 5

Day 5

Today children explore different shades of skin colors, noticing our differences and similarities.   

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: The Colors of Us
Lena paints a self-portrait and discovers the different colors of skin.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Skin Tone Collage
Create art with browns, tans, pinks, yellows, and beige.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Books about color.
Food Coloring
Make different colors and shades with food coloring and water.
Paints
Make different colors and shades with paint.
Color Sorting
Sort and categorize different-colored objects.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Exploring Skin Colors
Choose and mix colors to match the color of your skin.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Week’s Discoveries
Review the science themes you explored this week.
  1. Peep and friends!
  2. National Science Foundation
  3. 9Story
  4. American Public Television
  5. TVOntario

© 2024 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Peep and the Big Wide World and the Peep characters and related indicia are trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Used with permission. “Peep,” “Quack,” “Chirp,” “Tom” and “Nellie” were originally created by Kai Pindal for the National Film Board of Canada productions The Peep Show, © National Film Board of Canada, 1962, and Peep and the Big Wide World, © National Film Board of Canada, 1988. Peep and the Big Wide World ® is produced by WGBH and 9 Story Entertainment in association with TVOntario. Major funding for Peep and the Big Wide World is provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1222607. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.