Color Games

Color Games

Materials: 

Carpet samples or polyspots

Shape and color flashcards

Buckets

Cones

Jump ropes

Beanbags

Shape and color chart

Twister

Laminated hearts

Two sets of old clothing

Teaching basic skills to preschool students or to those with special needs can be a challenge.  Here is a list of games that you can teach not only in the classroom but also on the gym floor.  Get ready to learn and move!

Color Calisthenics

Spread color-laminated flashcards in a gym area 15-20 feet apart. Have students dance to the music; when the music stops, they pick up a flashcard. Students perform the gross motor action associated with that color.

For example:

Red= Run around the gym

Blue=Jumping jacks

Yellow= Hop

Green= Roll arms

Black= Kick

Purple= Dance

Pink=Skip

Four Corner Color Game

Attach a different color to each of your classroom’s corners. Choose one child to hide his eyes. Ask the other children to go to a corner and stand quietly. The person hiding their eyes then calls out a color. The children standing in that corner are out. Have them sit at the table or another specific area of the room. Choose another person to hide eyes. Repeat this sequence until the last person is standing in a corner.

Musical Colors

Place large cutouts of colors on the floor in a circle. Have the children step from color to color while you play music. Stop the music and have each child tell you what color they are standing on.

I Spy

The children really enjoy I Spy with colors. Each child takes a turn; they look around the room and find a color. They recite, “I spy with my little eye, something _____.” They name a color. The other children take turns trying to guess what the child spied.

Color Twister

Cut different colors from sturdy construction paper. Tape the colors to the floor so they don't move. Have one basket with colors that match the construction paper floor tiles and one basket with left hand, right foot, etc. Pick one item from each basket; the children must put the proper body parts on the proper or colors.  You can also use the game Twister and just use the mat for colors. 

Actors and Actresses

Students take turns acting out a color while the teacher and other kids try to guess it. 

Color Toss

Tape various colors to the wall. Have each student get a ball and a carpet sample. On the teacher's signal, students throw underhand to hit the target colors. Have students keep their own score: one point for each time they hit a target color. Encourage students to aim for different colors in their throwing area.

Crazy Colors

Take various colors and put them under a cone.  Have the students find the colors and call them out.  The student who correctly identifies the most colors the most wins.  When they find the color, be sure to have them put the color back for someone else to find.

Color Tag

Choose one person to be the tagger who calls out a color. A student must name an object that is that color before he or she gets tagged.  If they are unsuccessful, they are it.

Find it!

Arrange students on carpet samples that they can leave and return to. Have the students look around the room and ask them to notice things in the activity area. Tell them there are lots of colors that make up the activity area. Tell them you are going to identify some of these items at the beginning of this class.

On the teacher’s signal, the students must locate colors in the activity area, touch them with their hand, and then move back to their spot. This activity can be enhanced by adding locomotor activities such as skipping, leaping, and sliding.

Colors Parachute Toss

Have students put color flashcards on top of the parachute.  As they toss the items into the air, call out a color.  Whoever finds that color first wins!

Mix and Match

Put identical color flashcards in two different hula hoops. Have students take turns running down and finding one of the matching colors.  The group of students who find the most matches wins.

Wave’em in the air

Take a color flashcard and wave it in the air.  When the teacher calls on you, tell them why you like the color and where you would find it. Try to do other locomotor movements as you are waving them in the air. 

Colors Parade

Cut out colored shapes from construction paper and laminate them. Tape them to the floor. Tie colored crepe paper streamers to students’ wrists. Play some music and have them walk, march, hop or dance across the colors on the floor.  Bounce colored balls on the colors and use them as stepping stones.

Musical Colors Variation

Use various colors during this activity.  Cut out a colored shape for each player.  Place the shapes in different parts of the room.  March around the room, and when the music stops, students find one color flashcard.  Ask a student to identify the color. When the music starts again, they drop the color flashcard and march around again.  Play until their interest wanes.

Color Treasure Hunt.

Hang a shape or colored chart on your wall.  Name a shape or color and have the children go get the shape that you call out.  If you want to add more excitement to the game, add a locomotor gross movement. 

Here are some ideas:

Red: Run

Blue: Speed Walk

Yellow: Creep

Green: Skip

Orange: Hop

Black: Jog

Pink: Hop on one foot

Purple: Swim

References:

Bittinger, Gayle. (1997). Multisensory Theme-A-Sarus. Everett, WA: Totline Publications.

Earle, James. (2003). Songs and Colors and Shapes. Long Branch, NJ: Kimbo Education.

PE Central

http://www.pecentral.org/lessonideas/

Perpetual Preschool

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/shapes/shapes_games.htm

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