I was surprised when a color-themed crate arrived from Koala Crate this month. Colors seem so basic compared to other topics our subscription has covered, more like something we’d receive toward the beginning. Happily, we found that the activities and crafts inside were surprisingly complex and engaging. The booklet also felt especially interactive this month, including a color-by-shape page, seek-and-finds, and more.
First up was the Color Scavenger Hunt, using colored cellophane squares in all shades of the rainbow and a set of dice.
Roll one for color and one for the number of objects, then hunt for items around the house. Travis loved this little challenge!
The squares can be used for multiple purposes when your hunt is done. Roll a color and then think of something in that hue. Here’s Travis drawing a few items he thought of, like lettuce and carrots.
You can also hold the colored squares in front of familiar objects around the house and see how the colors shift, as with this apple.
Next we made the Watercolor Banner, which kids decorate first in crayon and then in watercolor (all materials provided in the kit).
We talked about things we see with lots of colors, which soon had Travis drawing nature scenes (flowers, a swamp) on his flags. I added a flag with rainbows and one with stripes.
Next, use the provided watercolors to paint over the crayons (a neat lesson in “resist” painting techniques).
Let dry before threading onto the provided rope, then find a spot to hang your banner. Travis opted for the old nursery!
Before you put away the watercolors, have some additional mixing fun. We started with the primary colors (dip your brush in the color, then in a cup of clear water), and I asked Travis what shade he’d like to make. Oh no – he requested white! The only one we couldn’t make. But we mixed up the secondary colors first, and then discovering how to make brown was a big hit.
The third craft, a Colorful Luminary, was a hit – and excellent for fine motor skills. Fit the provided tea light into the provided foam base, and add thin craft sticks in a circle around it.
Now add colored beads to each stick. I asked Travis if he wanted to do all one color per stick or arrange them in a pattern, but this was a bit advanced and he preferred randomly threading them onto the sticks.
Cap each stick with another foam piece to seal the beads in place.
Find a dark spot, and set the tea light ablaze. Beautiful! We talked about the ways the colors changed when the light was lit versus unlit.
Before we put away the fun, we repeated an old activity, Dyed Flowers, made by dying white carnations with food coloring. This is a great way not only for kids to see fun colors, but also to witness how liquids travel up a plant’s stem. Fill test tubes or small cups with water, and add food coloring to each. Place a white carnation in each tube, and let sit overnight.
You’ll have a lovely (though faint) color in each flower by morning. Our red worked best.
In sum, lots of great activities here, including for kids who learned their colors ages ago.
joyful parenting 