Homeschool: Color Exploration (Week 1)

We just completed our first week of homeschool. You can view our daily schedule (including which curriculum we use for math, reading and writing) by clicking the link. Below you'll find the art and science activities we did this week - focusing on Exploring Colors.

The Color Exploration PDF includes the Color Exploration lesson plan, Colors in Nature printable in English and Spanish (staple onto brown paper bags and use for the nature walk) and the blank Nature Color Collage (used on Monday).

MONDAY:

Book: Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo, Que Ves Ahi (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?)
Activity: Nature Walk & Nature Color Collage
Supplies: Brown lunch sack, Color Exploration PDF, glue, magnifying glass (optional).

Book. Since my boys both know their colors, I thought they'd be interested in learning them in Spanish. However, they had no interest. Haha. Instead they wanted me to go through, "Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo Que Ves Ahi" in English. And I did.

Nature Walk. I gave my boys each a brown paper sack with "Colors in Nature" stapled to the front. We went on a nature walk to find various colored nature items. My boys loved finding things (even if they just thought it was cool) and putting them in their bag.

3) Nature Color Collage. When we got home, we took a good look at everything they found and they made "Colors in Nature" collage by gluing their items onto the paper. My boys loved using their own items and own creativity in this simple process art activity. I made dinner while they glued, glued and glued some more. This was a winner for us.

TUESDAY:

Book: Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson
Activity: Bleeding Tissue Paper (Process Art)
Supplies: White Crayon, Spray Bottle, Bleeding Tissue Paper Squares (regular tissue paper may work, too - just make sure it bleeds when wet), card stock.

After reading our book, we did another simple process art activity. My boys loved it. Here's what to do:

Use a white crayon to draw a design on card stock (or water color paper)
Use a spray bottle to spray the paper with water.
Place the bleeding tissue paper squares on the paper - you can make designs with the tissue paper, cover the entire paper or just do a few pieces - let your children be creative.
Spray the project again.
Set out to dry and remove the dried tissue paper to reveal your art.

Before. I covered my entire paper in different colors.

After.

My five's finished project - the gray is from black tissue paper. See how he made a tree with the tissue paper?

My four's finished project - a few pieces here and there.

WEDNESDAY:

White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker
Activity: Color Mixing (science)
Supplies: Large Bin, plastic cups, food coloring (red, blue, yellow), twisty droppers

Book. My boys really loved this book. We also read Mouse Paint and Little Blue & Little Yellow (which are two other great books teaching about color mixing).

Activity. My boys have been asking to color mix since our family night on faith, so I knew they would love this. I bought our large plastic bin from Walmart (and use it so often) and used a few drops of food coloring to make red, blue and yellow. I switched out the water a few times upon request and my boys spent over an hour mixing colors.

THURSDAY:

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
Activity: Chameleon (Directed Art)
Supplies: Black Crayon, card stock (or water color paper), water color pencils, paint brush

Well, we'll just say I'm learning. Directed art is when the teacher draws and the children copy and draw what the teacher does. It's great for following directions. This chameleon was way too tricky with the swirly tail though. I wish I would have drawn the swirly tail for them on the paper and had my kids copy me on the rest. Anyway, we still had a lot of fun using our water color pencils and painting with water. I also learned to NOT use a black washable marker because it bleeds. A black crayon works great. After we finished, my boys drew on their own and made a few other things.