Learning the Color Orange through Science

Welcome to the Learning Colors, Shapes & ABC’s through Science preschool series!

My goal is to introduce my preschooler to his colors, shapes and letters through scientific activities. My hope is that this will increase his observations skills and make learning these basic facts more interesting. We will also be adding in art activities, books, notebook pages and other motor activities, which I’ll share with you along the way.

What I share in these posts is my plan, some weeks we will actually do all of these activities, most we won’t. The idea is that each week, I’ll have a buffet of activities to pull from to introduce my son to these fundamental concepts.  You can read more about my plans for this series in the Learning Colors, Shapes & ABC’s through Science introduction post.

This week our focus was the color orange and diamonds.

Orangey Outdoors

You will need:

• Camera
• Plastic Baggie

Fall is a great time to find orange leaves, flowers, or fungi!

Take the students outdoors, either in your neighborhood or for a hike in the woods. Have them look for the color orange and take a picture of what they have found. If possible, you can collect some of the items you have spotted to use for make a collage.

As you walk along, try to review the other colors and shapes you have discussed so far.

Take if Further: Once you get home, draw a diamond on a piece of paper. Talk about the shape of a diamond by pointing out its four sides.  Then, make a collage of the items you collected from your walk.

Book List

Here are several books on the color orange.

• The Big Orange Splot by D. Manus Pinkwater and Daniel Manus Pinkwater
• Each Orange Had 8 Slices by Paul, Jr. Giganti and Donald Crews
• The Dot by Reynolds, Peter H.
• Orange: Seeing Orange All Around Us by Sarah L. Schuette

Additional Activities

• Art: Mix 1 cup of salt, 3 drops of yellow food coloring and 2 drops of red food coloring. Spread the mixture out on wax paper to dry. On a sheet of paper draw a diamond and paint the diamond with glue. Sprinkle the orange sand to fill in the diamond shape and shake off the excess.
• Math: Cut out ten orange diamonds and use them to practice counting to ten.
• Fine Motor: Mix a cup of red water and a cup of yellow water by adding several drops of food coloring to tap water. Then have the students use an eye dropper to move the red and yellow water into a new glass to make orange water.
• Notebook: Create a page in the students’ notebook for the color orange and the shape of a diamond. On each page place stickers or pictures that match the color or shape.
• Movement: Have a student tuck an orange under their chin and then pass it along to another person without their hands. Alternatively, you can play catch with an orange.
• Snack: Eat oranges or goldfish for snack.