10 Activities for Teaching Colors in Kindergarten

Colors and Color Word Activities for Kindergarten

Teaching colors and color words in kindergarten helps students to visually discriminate colors and begin working with colors in different subjects, such as math, literacy, and art.

From sorting, graphing, reading color words in sentences, and identifying colors in art, teaching colors is an important life skill for young learners.

#1. I Spy!

I Spy! is a kid-favorite when it comes to kindergarten color activities. This game can easily be incorporated anytime of day, whether it's a morning warm-up, carpet game, or quick time-filler activity.

To play, one person is the “spy.” They look around the room and say “I spy something (green/blue/red).” Students then take turns raising their hand and guessing what it is. The first student that guesses correctly is the next “spy.”

Using color games with students is an effective way to engage them and practice skills in a fun way.

#2. Scavenger Hunt

Another way to get your students active and engaged in the learning is to do a color scavenger hunt. To play, draw different colored circles in the middle of various notecards. You can use as many colors as you'd like to work on.

The students will draw a notecard, identify the color, and go around the classroom to find something in that color. When they find something in the matching color, they stop and raise their hand in place.

Once everyone has found a match, go around the room calling on students one at a time and have them share their color and what the object is. Have them return to their seats, pass their cards to the left, and repeat the scavenger hunt again with their new colors.

Another option is to do this activity in small groups. Give students 2-4 notecards and have them go around the room and collect objects. Then, they return to the small group table and match the object to the correct color notecard before switching cards.

#3. Color Patterns

Whenever you can combine your kindergarten color activities with math, that's a teacher win! Practice identifying colors and making patterns with different colored counting bears, color links, or plastic cubes.

You can call out a pattern and have students model it with their manipulatives. You can also use pattern cards to help students model various patterns, such as AB, AAB, ABB, ABC, and AABB patterns.

#4. Color Sorts

A simple yet effective kindergarten color activity is to have students practice sorting by color and saying the colors out loud.

You can give students a handful of manipulatives, such as pattern blocks, colored cereal, plastic cubes, mini erasers, color links, etc. Have them sort the manipulatives by color and identify the color by saying it out loud.

To take it a step further, ask students to count how many are in each category to practice math skills.

Another variation of this activity would be to have different colored cups or containers and have students sort their pile into the proper cup or container.

If you don't have different colored cups or containers, you can write the color word in a colorful marker on a sticky note and stick it to the outside of any cup or container you have on hand. This would help students learn their color words as well.

#5. Egg Carton Fill

This color activity uses both color knowledge and fine motor skills. Prepare an egg carton by coloring a circle on the bottom of each space in an egg carton. You could also use a colored circle sticker instead and stick it in the bottom of the spaces.

Have students use jumbo tweezers to sort colored pom poms into the correct spaces in the egg carton, matching the colors of the pom poms to the circles. This would be a great small group or fine motor center activity.

#6. Play Dough Color Count

Play dough is a great manipulative to keep on hand when teaching colors. Students can practice identifying colors and counting at the same time.

To prepare, write different color words in the corresponding color with marker on notecards. Students will draw a color card to determine which play dough color they'll use. Then, they'll roll a dot cube and count the dots. Finally, they'll form that many play dough balls in the correct color, counting as they go.

Students can do this activity at a small group table or desk or with a color matching mat.

#7. Color Call Out

The next kindergarten color activity is another super easy, no prep game that can be played at any time.

To play, stand in circle as a whole group. One person calls out a color. Starting with the person to the left of them, each student says a real world object that is that color. After every student has said an object, the whole class spells the color word together.

Students take turns being the “caller” and calling out the next color.

#8. Roll and Match Colors

Color Roll and Cover is a fun game for students that makes practicing colors super fun.

You can use a color cube or a dry-erase cube to write color words or draw colored circles on. Students will roll the cube and cover a space on their roll and cover mat with a matching colored manipulative. The first student to cover the most spaces wins.

This activity is one of the activities found in the Let's Learn Colors Mini Unit.

#9. Bingo Dabber Activities

Bingo dabbers are perfect for several kindergarten color activities. You can give students a white piece of paper and have them write color words using the matching color of bingo dabber. This also gives students a little fine motor practice while forming the words.

Another option is to have students dab freely on a white piece of paper and have them say the color word each time they dab.

To practice spelling the color word, they could even say a letter each time they dab to spell the color word. Once the word is complete, they switch colors.

#10. Color Boom Cards

Using digital kindergarten color activities is another way to practice colors while engaging your students. Students can practice color recognition with real world objects or even color discrimination with Boom Cards.

They'll hear the color words in the audio directions, giving them even more exposure to colors and color words.

I hope these 10 kindergarten color activities have given you some fresh ideas that you can implement with your students.

Looking for more colors and color words activities for kindergarten? Check out my Let's Learn Colors Bundle, complete with color activities, centers, games, and no prep pages.