Preparing the Young Child for Colour Grading
Moving From Montessori Colour Box 2 to Colour Box 3
Oct 31, 2009
Children are surrounded by colours. They see it in their different skin colour tones and their different hair colours. They encounter the range of reds, for example, when they go lipstick shopping with mummy or when they help to rake leaves in autumn. Colour exposure, however, is not necessarily colour education.
The Montessori Colour Boxes
Chromatic knowledge is systematically developed in Montessori preschools through the three Colour Boxes. With the first box, they pair tablets of the primary colours red, blue and yellow. Subsequently they move on to the second colour box to pair the eleven secondary and tertiary colours, as well as black and white. Colour pairing demonstrates their ability to visually perceive colour relationships. They can identify colour similarities and differences. They also learn colour names as the vocabulary allows them to express their understanding of the world in terms of colours.
Children who can pair colours progress on to the third box which comprises 63 colour tablets. There are 9 different colours, each with 7 different tablets for children to grade from the darkest to the lightest.
To move the child from colour pairing to colour grading, the Montessori teacher can organise activities that help them to be more conscious of subtle differences between colours. This involves exposure to :
- colour values – how dark or light a colour is and
- colour intensities – how bright or dull a colour is.
Going on a Colour Hunt
For this activity, the teacher prepares 11 small boxes or baskets, each tagged with a Box 2 coloured card – blue, yellow, red, green, orange, purple, brown, pink, grey, black and white. Children search the environment for small items, sort them by colour and place them into the respective colour-coded containers.
A nature walk is excellent for gathering the coloured items. Leaves, stems and grass offer a wonderful selection of the different varieties of green. Sand, twigs, barks and dried leaves make a great study of the browns. Reds, blues, oranges and yellows in their different values and intensities can be seen in flower petals.
Colour Mixing in the Art Corner
During art work, children may accidentally discover how colours change when they mix. For example, when painting with water colours, should they get some yellow paint over the green paint, they will get a yellowish green tone.
Specific art activities can also be planned for children to experience colour mixing, making all kinds of orange, for example. Here are some suggestions:
- Handprinting – for children familiar with handprinting, have them place one hand in a tray of red paint, and the other in a tray of yellow paint. They rub their hands together and handprint the new colour created.
- Straw Painting – for children who are able to blow through a straw, have them drop red and yellow water colour droplets onto a sheet of paper. Using the straw, they blow at the paint. Have them observe what happens when the colours come together.
- Mirror Image Painting – for children with squeezing and folding skills, they can squeeze red and yellow poster colour paint from tubes onto one half of a sheet of paper. They fold the paper in two, press onto it and unfold the sheet to see the resultant pattern and colour mixture.
- Spray Painting a Sheet – for children who enjoy the outdoors, hang an old bedsheet on the clothesline and have them spray red and yellow paint onto it. Again, observe what happens when the colours mix.
In all these exercises, children discover that the mixed colour changes in intensity or in value depending on the amount of red or yellow used. Similarly the child can explore with red and blue to observe the different purples formed, yellow and blue for the different greens and so on. Children can also mix white to colours to experiment with colour tints, or to mix black to colours to get the different colour shades.
Colour Mixing in Practical Life
For children who can transfer with tongs, give them yellow and and blue ice cubes. (The ice cubes were earlier coloured by the children using food colouring.) Using the tongs, have them transfer the coloured cubes into a clear bowl of water and observe the colour change as the ice melts. Again, by varying the number of yellow and blue ice cubes, a variety of green solutions is produced.
Kitchen activities also allow for colour mixing. They can mix different amounts of yellow and blue food colouring to frosting or cream to decorate cupcakes with a range of green toppings. They can blend juices or mix a salad using an assortment of green fruits including kiwi, starfruit, green apples and grapes, or an assortment of yellow fruits including mango, pineapple, lemon and banana.
In short, activities must be organized to help children be more aware of subtle differences in colours. This awareness helps them to move on to colour grading exercises.
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