Little Gardeners Learn About Color as they Search for Plants/Flowers at their Local Garden Center

If you have little gardeners who adore all things colour and full of life, head to your local garden centre for a simple, yet fun colour hunt!

 

Gather Your Supplies:

 

• Clipboard with Colour Words Listed
• Pencil
• Camera/Camera Phone (that you are willing to allow your child to manage on their own)

 

 

If your child is able and willing, have him or her print a list of the colours that they would like to search for. We love the book “Pantone Colors” for its fresh take on colour, and used it to spell each of the colours that we hoped to find!

 

With clipboard, pencil, and camera in hand, head to your nursery/garden centre. With any luck, you will run into a plethora of retired shoppers who may or may not scowl at your enthusiastic 5-year-old shouting as he discovers the next colour on his list. Ignore them. You are awesome!

 

As you come across each colour of flower or plant, have your child snap a photo (encourage close-ups, they turn out fantastic!) and check it off on his or her list. Once each colour has been found, find duplicates. The thrill of hunting throughout a sea of colour and greenery will surely encourage a multitude of photos. We ended up with over 50!

 

 

Blue, brown, and black were difficult to locate. The ‘blue’ we chose was more of a light purple. The brown was a brownish-purple, and black was definitely a very deep, deep purple! However, I allowed our son to dictate what he thought the colour was, even if it didn’t quite appear to be ‘brown’ or ‘blue.’ At one point he stopped to ask for help in finding a colour on his sheet; what a joy to see him engaging with an adult and requesting assistance on his own (socialization at its best).

 

When you have exhausted your search, head home to load all of your pictures on to your computer. Together with your little photographer, select and print out an image of each colour of plant/flower, or a collage if necessary. Display your findings in your ‘learning space,’ or other prominent location where you can enjoy the fruits of your labour.

 

Since our children are still quite young, we did not record the names of each type of flower and plant that we photographed; however, if your children are older and keen to do so, I highly recommend this! This could turn into a fantastic discussion of colours relating to plant hardiness, planting location, sun and water requirements, etc. Our main goal in this activity however was to simply explore the many colours and shades that our garden centre has to offer, and to marvel in their beauty.

 

As we focused on the colours of each flower that our son discovered, we also shared whether it was a “light pink” or “dark pink,” which helped him to see the wide array of shades that each colour encompasses, and drew us back to the shades in our favourite colour book. It was a fun exploration!

 

Feast your eyes on our rainbow of colour:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy your learning experience.  Every day is an adventure!