Fun Ways to Teach Color Words

Color Words Games and Activities

The activities listed here are fun for students and hands-on.  Just be prepared … some of them might be a little messy!

1. Color Concentration – this is a fun game that does take a little bit of prep time, but once you have the cards made you can use them over and over again.

For this game, you’ll need two sets of cards – one with the colors alone and one with the color words. You can use blank index cards to make these.

Set all the cards face down on the table. Students turn over two cards at a time, either reading them or saying the color. If the two cards match, the student keeps the cards and gets a point. Continue until all cards are matched – the student with the most points at the end wins.

You can make this game a bit harder for older students. One way to do this is to make the backs of the color cards all one color and then make the back of the word cards another color. Students pick one of each card so they know they’ll always get a color and a word.

Another way to increase the difficulty level is to keep the cards all the same color on the back, but then tell students they must have a word AND the matching color in order to keep them.

2. Scavenger Hunt – this traditional game is still a fun for younger students to play. Make flash cards for each of the color sight words that you are working with. Simply hold up a card and pull a student’s name. That student says the card out loud and then must then find something in the classroom that matches the color.

You can change this up a bit by limiting where in the room the students can find the objects. For example, it must be something that someone is wearing or the object must be in the front half of the room, etc.

3. Color Mix Activity – this is one of those messy activities, but of course the kids will love it! You can do this one either with finger paints, water color paints, or water colored with food coloring. Whichever medium you use, you’ll need the three primary colors.

You’ll also need worksheets with the color sight words written like “red + blue = _______.” Kids will need to read the words in order to know what colors to mix and then write what they end up with. Reading and writing in one activity!

The idea here is basically for the students to mix the primary colors together one at a time to discover what color they turn when mixed. The finger paints and water colors can just be done on construction paper. If you opt for the colored water you’ll need clear water for the kids to pour the colored water into.

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