Art Activities for Color Play and Learning

Art activities for color play include more than drawing. Stickers, tissue paper, and even coffee filters are inexpensive materials for playing with colors.

art activities for color playA bag of dollar stickers can be fun for younger toddlers and older preschoolers. We opened a bag and poured some stickers into a plate so the pieces were easier to see. Big Sister knows all the colors and was able to use all the words. Little Sister wasn’t as interested but had fun picking out the ones she wanted and occasionally used color names. Big Sister said her stickers were fishes. Little Sister said her picture was stickers. Who would have thought that stickers could show how children develop the ability to have one object represent something else?

art activities for color playInstead of stickers, kids can glue tissue paper onto stiff paper or thin cardboard. Sometimes, stores use tissue paper in packaging. Gifts that come in bags often have sheets of tissue paper in a variety of colors. Covering a whole piece of paper doesn’t take very many bits of tissue paper. Smaller pieces of tissue paper can be precut by adults or kids can just tear off bits themselves. A super idea for glue is to make a glue sponge in a shallow container with a tight lid. Sometimes, overlapping different colors will show a new color. It’s almost like magic.

combining science and artCoffee filters are another great material for color play. White filters are better than the natural colored ones. Spread several layers of newsprint or an old towel on a table. Using felt markers, kids color all over a filter. Once the whole thing is full of color, or as much of it as kids are interested in doing, comes another bit of magic. Using a spray bottle of water, kids lightly spray the coffee filter so the colors run and mix together. As the colors mix, kids can watch the changes.

Besides practicing the names for colors, kids get to explore how colors change when they mix. What color will the play be today?

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