Exploratorium
Spectra
Make a class set of spectrum tubes by first purchasing some diffraction grating, and then constructing the tools with mailing tubes or shoe boxes. If you aren't up for assembling them, you could purchase prepared spectroscope kits. This...
Exploratorium
Bird in the Cage
When your life science class is learning about the eye and how it works, you can add this activity as a demonstration of how the retina holds an afterimage. After staring at a red, green, or blue bird shape, pupils glance at a cage and...
Perkins School for the Blind
I See Something Red
For learners with low vision, the ability to identify colors is an important skill that will help them identify people and places. Groups of brightly colored objects are placed around the room. The child is then given a colored paper and...
Curated OER
Light 3: All Those Seeing Color, Say Eye!
Middle schoolers explore the nature of light. They use on-line articles and a worksheet to explore the roles of the eye and brain in the perception of color. They draw and label a diagram illustrating the movement of light.
Curated OER
Colors
A tricky activity on color words is sure to challenge your kindergarten readers. They match color words to pictures that correspond to each color - yellow for banana, for example. Next, kids color a paint set to match four color words....
Curated OER
Red Circle, Red Circle, What Do You See?
Young learners explore shapes and colors. They listen to Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and use the same language pattern to create a color and shape book of their own. After that, with the leftover magazine...
Curated OER
Fun Physics You Can See
Fascinating aspects of electromagnetic radiation and its use in obtaining and transferring information are described here. Learners will find the connections to current technology interesting. Although the slides are text-heavy, they do...
Curated OER
Tissue Paper Flowers
Here is a sweet and simple lesson that introduces young learners to the three primary colors; red, yellow, and blue. Through a discovery process, youngsters learn how to successfully identify these colors, and the many shades of these...
Curated OER
Shrinky Dinks® Palettes
Here is a fun and clever lesson plan for teaching physics classes how to calculate wavelength if given the energy and frequency data. On a worksheet, they compute wavelengths using a table of information that you provide. On a paper...
Curated OER
Black and White Bottle Experiment
Students investigate solar energy and color. In this solar energy lesson, students assess the benefits of solar energy. Students discover that solar energy is attracted to darker colors and conduct an experiment using colored bottles to...
Curated OER
Complementary Color Names
Students examine and analyze the art of Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement. They identify the colors of the color wheels and the complementary colors, and analyze art by Andy Warhol. Students then create a painting with their name or...
Curated OER
Colors of Winter-Body Parts/Senses
Fun is in the air as learners with special needs engage in sensory-filled activities. They discuss color, snow, cold, winter, and body parts while touching and smelling various objects. They discuss the parts of the body with relation to...
Curated OER
Falling into Shapes
Children with special needs participate in several activities to reinforce shape and color recognition. They sign the word leaf, sing a song about leaves, and bounce leaves around on a parachute. They then help the instructor name...
Curated OER
Complementary Superheroes
Students discover the color wheel. In this color instructional activity, students find the primary colors, secondary colors, and contrasting colors. They look through the designs of super hero logos and create their own using what they...
Curated OER
Color Scheme Acrylic Painting Self-Assessment
Being a good artist means being able to critique your own work. Here young painters will take a short quiz on color schemes in acrylic painting and then reflect on their use of color in a recently completed piece. A great activity for...
Curated OER
Patterns of 2, 5, and 10
Give your young counters practice with skip counting and colors as they shade in number grids by 2s, 5s, and 10s. The three grids reach 50, and the first one is partially completed to give scholars an example. They follow directions by...
Curated OER
Light, Colors, and Vision
Third graders experience optic illusions by creating flipbooks. In this optics lesson, 3rd graders view a demonstration of the workings of rods and cones using a camera. They are shown an optical illusion and work to create their own...
Curated OER
Lesson: All in a Name
Lao Tzu was the fabled author of the Toa te Ching, Lau Tzu is also the name of a large sculptural piece. Kids examine Mark di Suvero's larger-than-life sculptures in relation to the elements of art they've learner about. They examine...
Curated OER
Putting It All Together
Students examine a painting. In this shapes and puzzle lesson, students view Guston's painting Blue Water and identify the colors, shapes and recognizable forms. Students work in groups to put together puzzle pieces of the painting. ...
Curated OER
2-Dimensional Shapes: Coloring Shapes
For beginners to color, number, and shape theory, this is a great way to solidify skills. They use a key at the top to determine which color (yellow, green, purple, or blue) to shade each shape (square, triangle, circle, and rectangle,...
Curated OER
3-D Texture Painting (Impasto)
A neat art project is on the horizon. Your class can experience impasto, or textured painting with this expressive art lesson plan. They design and then paint using the impasto technique. This is done by mixing toilet paper into the...
Curated OER
Shaping the Color Wheel
When you paint you almost always use color. Budding artists explore the color wheel, color vocabulary, and painting techniques. They discuss and practice mixing colors, then paint a color wheel for personal reference.
Curated OER
Halves and Fourths
Young mathematicians may not love fractions, but do they love sandwiches? How about cake? Use this visual fractions activity to represent fractions in a relatable way. Scholars start by coloring segmented shapes to indicate halves and...
Curated OER
Red is the Word!
Through the use of stories, artwork, and the KidPix program, youngsters explore the color word red, and engage in activities around the word. Teaching kindergartners about the color words can be so much fun. This could be adapted for any...