The Colors of Nature

Color activities work with children of all ages. With younger children, looking at the colors in nature helps to teach them their colors as they learn that “red” isn’t always the red in a box of Crayola crayons. With older children and preteens, color activities become more art-based and noticing nature can help this more independent bunch learn how to combine colors in their clothing or their rooms.

Rainbow Hunt – For a color activity that doesn’t require any props, simply challenge children on a walk to find one example of every color of the rainbow or the basic box of eight crayons. Play this as a memory game as well, by naming the different colors and having the children respond with what they found with that color.

Colors of the Season – Cut four-inch squares of construction paper in colors that the child would see on a nature walk – for spring, yellow, light green, dark green, white, pink. Punch a hole in each square and string onto a piece of yarn. As the child walks, they must find examples of those specific colors. If you are with more than one child, rotate the necklace to different children who then get to show the others with them at least one example of each color on the necklace.

Seasonal Color Wheel – Older children may prefer the challenge of mixing paint or color pencils to create the colors they see during a particular walk through nature.

Rainbow Stories – For this activity you’ll need a bag of multi-colored pony beads and enough yarn to make a necklace for each child. As the children find object in different colors, they earn one bead for each color. You can require that two children can’t suggest the same item to earn a bead (so if one child earns a yellow bead for a buttercup, another child must look for a bumblebee or a dandelion to earn their bead).

At the end of the walk, the children must recall the items that earned them each bead and then incorporate those items into a story that they will tell the others with them.

For the child interested in animals, try these Adventures in Color and Camouflage to show the child how animals rely upon the colors of nature to offer them protection. Whether kids are learning their colors or already know their colors, you can incorporate the hues in nature into art, storytelling, and science activities.

Storytelling and Supposition: What's Going on in Nature?

On this morning’s walk several crows (a murder of crows), were going crazy. When I saw a hawk fly up into a tree, followed by four crows, I knew I was seeing mobbing. Crows and other birds will gang up on hawks and owls as a way of pushing predators out of their territory. Now this hawk sat up in a tree, staring at a pond (musing upon frog legs for breakfast?) while the four crows continued to harangue it.

I didn’t find this strange. What was odd was that as I drew closer to the tree (50 feet?) one of the crows flew into a tree closer to the road where I was walking. This crow was silent. The other three crows, no more than ten feet from the hawk also fell silent as I passed. Once I had gone by the tree, the crows started up again and continued cawing until I could no longer hear them.

What caught my curiosity was that this group of crows, perched ten feet from something that could eat them for breakfast, fell silent as I (50 feet away) walked by. Why? What’s going on?

a) The crows thought it was likelier that I would catch one of them than the hawk that was wing’s length away

b) The crows have experienced humans who would side with the charismatic predator and throw things at them so they thought that silence was warranted

c) The crows went the same path as a group of fighting kids suddenly feigning innocence when an adult walks in the room

When you and your kids see something going on in nature, ask why and what and how. Let the kids tell stories, whether that story is a sentence long or the idea takes hold and gets the child chatting for twenty minutes. These stories don’t have to be based on book facts. However, you can encourage the children to incorporate details that they have observed.

This activity encourages creativity and imagination but also observation and curiosity – the kids have to notice something that is different than what they’ve noticed in the past, which means that they need to learn to pay attention to their surroundings on a regular basis, not just while playing games. Read more at Tell a Group Story with Children.

Also, it’s fun to make things up while trying to figure out the world. (Why did the crows fall silent?”