Crazy Color-Coded Games Catch Kids’ Attention
Show a multi-colored motorcycle or other vehicle with wheels to introduce kids to a new kind of color wheel.
Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!
When students seem sleepy or more distracted than usual, catch their attention with crazy color-coded games.
Hot Wheels Color Game – Background: Art teachers and other educators often help children learn about color by introducing them to a color wheel.
A traditional color wheel shows the primary colors at the center – red, yellow, blue.
The next circle presents the secondary colors – orange, green, purple – that are made by mixing two of the primary colors together.
Circles continue around the first two so that the finished wheel shows all the variations of color.
Game: Play Hot Wheels Color Game by introducing kids to non-traditional color wheels…
the wheels and body of a motorcycle, truck, car, train, plane, or other vehicle.
Hold up a large colorful photo or illustration of some hot wheels and call on students to take turns naming the colors they see.
Use this activity to wake kids up at the start of school or during transition time between lessons.
Optional: Invite students to design their own “hot wheels.”
Distribute pieces of colored construction paper and sheets of white paper. Instruct students to cut the colored paper into shapes to form a vehicle and glue the shapes onto white paper.
Crazy About Color – Play a color-coded game that helps kids learn to associate different colors with different feelings.
Play a color-coded game that helps children associate colors with feelings. This family looks like they are feeling “rosy.”
Start Crazy About Color by asking volunteers to stand next to you and hold up photos of different families.
If possible, select photos to share that show people expressing a variety of emotions.
Begin a story about a family, using the sentences I’ve written here…
Gramma says that she feels great. She says, “I’m in the pink.”
Grandpa got so mad the other day that Grandma said; “He was seeing red!”
Sometimes on rainy days, I get to feeling blue. Then Mom bakes my favorite cake and life seems rosy again.
Ask the volunteers to name a color that connects with the family in the photo they are holding.
Invite the rest of the class to join in the game that continues with you calling out a color and calling on a student to name a feeling that matches.
This game can be as short or as long as you want to suit your classroom schedule.
Check out more crazy color-coded games that prompt children’s critical thinking… (more…)
Barbara Cleary has been serving as a resource to hundreds of educators for more than 25 years.
An award-winning writer, producer, teacher, and trainer, Barbara’s focus is on offering easy, fun tools and tricks that support K-5 curricula and assist teachers with classroom management.
