Introducing children to English colour words is easily done with colour flashcards. The teacher can show a colour card, say the name, write it on the board and then put the colour card near the matching word. Once all the colours have been introduced the group can work through some of the following activities to practice using colours in English.
Mixing Up the Colours by Playing Fruit Salad
Fruit Salad is a game that can be played with any set of words but works especially well with colours. To begin the game, the teacher should have the children sit in a circle. The teacher then gives each child a colour (e.g. red, orange blue, green). It is important that there is more than one person in the circle who has the same colour, even numbers work best but odd numbers are possible as well. The teacher then calls out a colour and the children with that colour must change seats.
The teacher can call out one colour at a time or multiple colours. Additionally, the teacher can also call out “fruit salad”, which means that all the children must change seats. It is also possible for a child from the group to call out the colours, which provides speaking practice as well as comprehension practice.
Colour by Number
A useful table activity using colours is a colour by number worksheet. The worksheets, which feature an image broken into segments, have a number in each segment. On the worksheet is a key which shows which colour each number represents, for example the number 5 equals the colour red. The children then know which colour they must colour in each section.
There is a vast variety of colour by number worksheets on the internet but they are also easily made by hand using an image that can be coloured in. To further facilitate the language learning, the teacher can put a picture of each colour on the board with the English word written next to it. On the worksheet, the teacher can then only provide the number and the written colour word, rather than giving the actual colour prompt.
Play Go Fish Using Colour Cards
In this variation on the traditional children’s card game, each child is given between two and five cards with colours on them. The teacher can adjust the number of initial cards given to the children based on the group's level. In turn, each child asks another child if they have a particular colour card using the phrase “do you have…” If the nominated child does have the requested colour card, they give it to the child. If they do not have the requested colour card then they respond with the phrase “no, go fish.” The child who’s turn it was then must take an additional card from the deck. The winner is the child that makes the most colour pairs.
Tips:
- In order to avoid the same child being asked repeatedly for his or her cards, the teacher can have the children ask the child on his or her left/right.
- The children can practice using “please” and “thank you” when giving and receiving the cards.
- It is important that the colour cards are printed on thick or non-white paper, as otherwise the children can see through them.
Colour words are a good beginning activity for children learning English as a foreign language. Their visual design makes them excellent for hands-on and visual activities within the group. Additionally, children typically find learning and using colours enjoyable.
Heather Tucker - Heather Tucker is an experienced writer, photographer and traveller. Having lived in four countries (USA, Estonia, United Kingdom and the ...
