It's officially Fall and the leaves are starting to change colors here in Colorado. It made me think that it was about time we did a whole Color theme week. Mia knows her basic colors so we focused on some more advanced topics like lighter vs. darker, transparent vs. opaque, color mixing, and even a little about complimentary colors.
You've probably noticed by now that one of my favorite learning activities is the scavenger hunt. Mia is an active kid so it's my way of tailoring her learning experiences to her personality. A color scavenger hunt is particularly fun because you can create a rainbow with your findings. Last year, we made this collage with all of Mia's colored findings. This year, she's really into scribbling in her notepads so I made her a whole page list to check off instead.
For a little extra fun one day, we took a walk through the alleys of Denver's RiNo neighborhood. Street artists have been covering buildings & walls with their beautiful murals. So many colors! This week there happened to be a whole street art event, Colorado Crush, and Mia actually got to see several artists in action.
We had to have a little conversation on the way home about how those artists had permission to paint on the walls, but in general, we shouldn't paint on our walls. Haha! Instead, she and I rolled out a long piece of art paper and worked on a colorful mural collab. I started with some overlapping abstract shapes as an invite to create with me. One day we used markers, another day paint, and another chalk so we could talk about their color textures and also saturation. There were some lessons in color mixing too -- "Look mom, brown!" Last year's Color week project was the creation of this pretend makeup kit using little travel containers and a thin layer of nail polish (watch Target Dollar Spot for bags, brushes, and even travel containers). This week, I picked up a few more travel containers so we could add to her "eyeshadow" collection.
Have you heard of Mr. Printables? It's a really great website with lots of free learning printables and they have a few that are perfect for Color week. The first one is a color wheel. You can print it in color or not for a bigger challenge and it's great to use for a little independent sorting activity. I had our color wheel laminated so that I can use it over and over but especially so that I can use it during snack time. I gave Mia a bowl of Fruity Cheerios and she sorted them into piles one afternoon. Once she had them all sorted, I taught her a little about complimentary colors (the ones opposite on the color wheel). We wondered if the Denver Broncos knew their blue & orange colors were complimentary. Something tells me they do know...clever! Mr. Printables also has these color overlay cards (shown below). You can submit the printable file online to Staples.com and they will print them on transparencies & cut for you. I like to outsource when I can. Mia played with these on a white table top and I kept Millie simultaneously busy with a mess-free paint bag (poured red, blue & yellow paint into a food storage bag and sealed). I chose the primary colors intentionally because as Millie mashed and squished the paint, she helped us see that red and yellow make orange, and so on.
As a last special treat, I took Mia out on a very rare one-on-one date to the nail salon for pedicures. Knowing how excited she gets about my nail colors naming each one of them off as she rifles through the little box, I just knew she'd love this experience. They had a whole wall of nail colors -- "Wow, look at allllllllll the colors!" And then she chose an iridescent white polish. The irony!
A summary of all Color week activities with links:
ACTIVITIES: Went on a colorful scavenger hunt, Played with Mr. Printables color mixing transparencies (find them here), Sorted cereal with the Mr. Printables Color Wheel (find it here)
ART PROJECTS: Made a colorful mixed media mural, Made a pretend makeup set with travel containers and nail polish
OUTINGS: Went to Colorado Crush in the RiNo neighborhood to see the street artists in action, Had colorful pedicures done at the local salon
BOOKS: Press Here by Herve Tullet, Pantone: Colors by Pantone, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr
BIBLE STORY: Joseph and his colorful coat
BABY BONUS: Ziplock bag painting and color mixing, Read Alice in Wonderland: A BabyLit Colors Primer by Jennifer Adams & Andy Warhol's Colors by Susan Goldman Rubin
If you'd like to share a photo of your kid doing theme week activities, you can email it to me (email button in the left menu) or tag me on your Facebook photo or use the hashtag #weeklytoddlerthemes on Instagram (if you are private, just make sure I'm following you or tag me in the photo).
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