Seasonal Color Wheel

What are the colors of spring? Summer? Autumn? Winter? Each season offers a unique color palette. If an interior decorator selected colors for four rooms in the colors of each season, chances are that you’d have no difficulty telling what season was represented in each room. Once children become old enough to be aware that they’ve experienced a season in their past, they too would recognize the colors of the seasons.

You can do these activities during any season; you could even do them each month of the year. The activities go beyond simple color recognition to noticing the variations within colors. Try these as art projects, even if you don’t feel that you yourself are artistically inclined. Do the activities along with your children, students, scouts, or campers.

Color Match
Go to the hardware store and collect an assortment of paint chip samples (start with greens, browns, and grays). If you have the time and inclination, cut the strips apart into individual colors and toss them in a bag or envelope. Now, go outside with the kids and give everyone at least one of the paint samples and encourage them to explore the area looking for as close a match in nature as they can possibly find.

Players can switch to different colors if they can’t find what they are trying to match, or they can hold onto a color in the hopes of matching it elsewhere along their walk. Try this activity in natural settings as well as urban or suburban settings to contrast the colors of not just seasons but environments.

Color Wheel
This activity is a bit more complex because instead of matching colors the participants are creating color matches. Each player will need some paper and either colored pencils or watercolors. Although the manufacture is providing a range of colors, point out those colors can be mixed or layered to create other colors.

Take a plate and draw a circle on the paper. Divide the circle into six, eight, or twelve pie sections. Now, go outside and select a color distinctive of the season and color in one of the pie sections. Again, the yellow of forsythia might not be the yellow of the colored pencil, so encourage exploration and experimentation with the materials as participants practice mixing or layering colors.

Fill in each pie section with a different color. Notice how not all green leaves are the same color green and try to duplicate these different hues. Label the page with the season or the month. Try to repeat throughout the year, creating a color palette for each season.

Try either of these activities with preschoolers all the way up through adults. They give you an awareness of the variety of colors around you as well as bring clarity to the distinctive qualities of each time of the year.