Learning Colors through Science

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                                        Learning through Science

The Plan

My plan is to to use a scientific demonstration or observation as the centerpiece of a weekly theme. In other words, the science will serve as the introduction for the color, shape or letter.Even though my baby is in 1st grade his is still struggling with writing his letters and recognizing simple words and how they work in sentences. My hope is that by doing these fun activities he will learn how to read and write while not even realizing we are working on those skills as well through science. I found some great ideas through Elemental Blogging and also from Child Fun.

The Low Down

So each week, I will put together the following:
  • A scientific demonstration or observation which will introduce a color, shape, or letter to the student while working to build their observation skills;
  • A living book list that supports the theme;
  • Ideas for art activities and games that reinforce what the students are learning.

Banana Mush-up

Let the students observe a banana. Ask questions like:
  • How does the skin feel?
  • Is it soft or hard?
  • Is it smooth or rough?
Draw a rectangle on a piece of paper and have the students try to fit their banana inside the rectangle. Next, peel the banana and ask the students:
  • How does the inside differ from the outside?
  • Is it soft or hard?
  • Is it smooth or rough?
Have the students use a blunt knife to slice the banana in half. Let them mush up the banana with their hands. Ask them:
  • What does it feel like?
  • Is it wet or dry?
  • Is it sticky or smooth?
When they are done, let them lick their hands and take a bite of the other half of the banana to see if the two taste different.

Take if Further: Do the “Water Flow” activity in More Mudpies & Magnets on pg. 81. Use yellow objects for the demonstrations.

Book List

Here are several books on the color yellow.
Additional Activities
  • Art: Have the students draw a picture with glue and then sprinkle sand or yellow glitter over their picture. Shake the paper off over a trash can to reveal their design.
  • Math: Cut out ten yellow rectangle and use them to practice counting and writing to ten.
  • Fine Motor: Have the students string pasta that has been dyed yellow on a yellow string. (You can dye pasta yellow by placing 10 drops of yellow food coloring with 1 to 2 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. Mix well and add 1 cup of pasta. Shake it up until all the pasta is coated with the dye.)
  • Notebook: Create a page in the students’ notebook for the color yellow and the shape of a rectangle. On each page place stickers or pictures that match the color or shape.
  • Movement: Tie yellow streamers to the student and let them run around to see what the wind does to the streamers.
  • Snack: Make lemonade from scratch and serve it with bananas or another yellow food.
Here’s a link to yellow themed songs, poems and fingerplays.

Our Experience

Learning the Color Yellow through ScienceLittle man loved mushing up the banana and licking it up off his hands, which was no surprise because he is a boy after all! He didn’t want to string pasta for very long and got bored with it  so we stamped yellow rectangles instead. He did however love to shake glitter off the paper, especially since most of it missed the trash can and he could put it on his body, arms, face, sister-the usual spots (Mental Note: Do not do glitter activities with a boy indoors.)

Other than that, we had fun making our notebooking pages for yellow and rectangles. We didn’t get much else done as it was a very busy week with my daughter.

I love those moments and I treasure them as I know all to fast, they disappear.

I hope you and your students enjoy the activities above. Please feel free to share your experiences or link to a blog post that shows what you guys have done in the comments below!

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