Teaching Colors – Orange

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Well, I kicked off my Teaching Colors to Preschoolers series back in September and then I would imagine that many of you wondered why in the world it never amounted to anything other than the one post!

Let’s just say my heart is in the right place but my organizational skills are not – ha!

So for those who might still care (and for my own need to have all these ideas in one place!), here is the second installment in my color series.  You can see the first one about the color red by clicking HERE.

I teach 2 and 3 year olds.  Our curriculum includes colors, shapes, and numbers.  We celebrate one from each category for the entire month.  With this age, it’s best to take things slow and really let the concepts seep into their little brains!

With that said, I try to find the most fun and creative ways to do this.

In October we celebrated orange – which was great because October is the time for pumpkins and colorful leaves.

Here are a few of the activities we did together…

Color Literature

The first thing I do when introducing a new color is bring out my Hello Kitty Colors book (find it HERE).

I tell the kids to shout out, “ORANGE!  ORANGE!  ORANGE!” when I get to the orange page.  But when I turn to a page that is not orange, they have to say, “No, no, no – that’s (whatever color is being shown on the page).”

I also have them wag their finger when they say “No, no, no,” and it is ridiculously adorable.

I always make sure to turn to the orange page last and we all freak out.

Other great books for the color orange…

Color Books

After I introduce a new color with the Hello Kitty Book, then we head over to the work tables to draw in our Color Books.  I simply take a piece of orange cardstock for the cover and then fold a piece of white computer paper inside.  Staple the edges and you’re ready!

The kids use orange crayons, orange markers, orange cutouts, orange dot markers, orange tissue paper squares, orange stickers… any little orange bit will be fine!  The end result is very cute with all the varied mediums.

Orange Discovery Bin

I bought a bunch of colored bins at the Dollar Tree a few years ago.  Whenever we have a new color to celebrate, we put on our ‘color glasses’ and hunt down all of the orange items in our room.  We bring them back to the carpet area and present them to one another before we toss them in the color bin.

I let the kids explore this bin all month long!

Orange Songs and Poems

I found the most amazing FREE Printable color poems HERE (I cannot find the original link for this – it goes straight to the download).  We clap our hands and chant it together every day.

Orange Magnets and File Folder Activities

One of the BEST resources I have found for my color units are these FREE Printable color packets from Lovely Commotion.  I laminate the file folder activity above and then use them as part of our Circle Time activities.

There are also printable color magnet squares that we do every month on our magnet wall from this same FREE Printable packet.

Orange Pipe Cleaner Colander Activity

This is a classic Pinterest fine-motor activity!  I happened to have a lot of orange pipe cleaners on hand so it worked out well!  The end result looks kind of other-worldly. 🙂  The kids love it.

Orange Napkin Dance

I gave each kid an orange cocktail napkin.  We unfolded it, put on some pretty music and danced with our napkins!  I had them wave their napkins up high, down low, we covered our heads, swirled them around, whatever you want!

Brown Bear Project Handprints

We work on a special project all year long that coincides with the colors we are learning!

You can read all about it HERE.

Drink Orange Juice

You can’t learn about the color orange without enjoying some orange juice (in orange cups, of course!).

Orange Art Projects

• We painted orange pumpkins at the easel.
• We visited our school’s pumpkin patch, picked out some pumpkins, and decorated them with my abundant supply of glitter. 😉
• We made orange fall leaves using THIS amazing technique from Toddler Approved.

Orange Videos

I also like to share a few YouTube videos with my students while they are having snack.

Here are my favorites that teach about the color orange.

• Teatime with Tayle ORANGE
• Storybots ORANGE
• Color Crew ORANGE
• Color ORANGE Song
• Color of the Day ORANGE with Patty Shukla
• Surprise Eggs ORANGE

I hope you find something here to help your kids learn about the color orange.

I would love to know if this is a helpful resource for you – leave a comment below!

Joyfully,

Julie 🙂