Fun Color Activities for Halloween
Hands-on Color Identification and Mixing Games and Activities
Oct 17, 2009
Halloween’s many fun and bright colors lends itself to teaching children about primary colors and how to mix them to create more shades. Try some of these active Halloween color games that encourage kids to get moving, be creative, and learn while having fun.
Identify Colors for Halloween
Name That Halloween Color – Give each child a colored card with the name of the color printed on it. Place various Halloween-related items, such as orange pumpkins, black bats, purple people eaters, white ghosts, etc. in a large black pot or basket, and show the class the items one at a time. Have children stand when their color is shown and sit when the next item is shown. Reinforce the spelling of each color by having the class to spell the color together. Turn the game into a fun speed game by quickly going through items the next time with or without spelling practice. Add more active play by assigning one item to each child that matches their color and then hiding those items. Have the kids search for their items and place them in the black pot.
Practice Math with Color Graphs – Graph Halloween colors by giving children a variety of Halloween-themed die cuts using different colored paper and a large poster graph. Encourage kids to graph the color of various items in the classroom, such as shirts or a group of manipulatives. Surprise children by placing a sticky note under each child’s chair with the name of a Halloween item or the name of a Halloween-themed color before the start of class. Have children to graph their mystery item’s color. Add interest by having kids to predict what colors will be produced when combining various colors have the children vote between two colors and graph the resulting color votes.
Halloween Camouflage – Halloween provides a wealth of ideas for teaching children about camouflage and how nature provides its own protection through matching colors within the environment. The article entitled Teach Kids About Camouflage at Halloween gives lots of suggestions for fun activities related to animal camouflage for Halloween and incorporates a delightful Halloween-themed book about camouflage called Winnie the Witch [HarperCollins, 2007].
Mix Colors for Halloween
Read the oversized book Mouse Paint [Harcourt Brace & Company, 1989] for a fun lesson in colors as some mischievous mice climb into paint colors and then begin to mix those colors together.
Teach kids that red and yellow make orange for Halloween by using primary colored liquids. This can be done as a demonstration using large, clear containers with powdered drink mixes in water. Children can practice pouring, measuring, and mixing colors with clear plastic cups and small samples of the various primary colors. Let students guess which combinations will produce the various colors. Add fun names for the mixtures such as:
- Red and yellow make orange pumpkin potion
- Yellow and blue make green bug juice
- Red and blue make purple dinosaur drink
PBS Kids’ Curious George Mix and Paint free online game gives children the opportunity to mix different amounts of primary paint colors as well as adding white and black to produce unique works of art with a fun variety of coloring pages.
Blue’s Clues Shapes and Colors [1996] video offers a fun way to learn about the color wheel and shows children primary colors and begins mixing them to make more and more combinations with a fun song and of course a lovable dog.
Make Halloween Colorful, Active, and Fun
These children’s activities can help children discover their creative and colorful side while having fun for Halloween. Whether kids are learning to identify colors or creating new mixed colors, they can enjoy these Halloween color activities. Readers are welcome to share any fun color games that have worked well in their classes in the comment box below.
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