Welcome to the Learning Colors, Shapes & ABC’s through Science preschool series!
My goal is to introduce my preschooler to his colors, shapes and letters through scientific activities. My hope is that this will increase his observations skills and make learning these basic facts more interesting. We will also be adding in art activities, books, notebook pages and other motor activities, which I’ll share with you along the way.
What I share in these posts is my plan, some weeks we will actually do all of these activities, most we won’t. The idea is that each week, I’ll have a buffet of activities to pull from to introduce my son to these fundamental concepts. You can read more about my plans for this series in the Learning Colors, Shapes & ABC’s through Science introduction post.
This week our focus was the color blue and squares.
Blue Water
You will need:
- Blue food coloring
- Several cups of warm water
- A clear square container
Fill the container about halfway with water. Point out to your students the square shape of the container. Have them use their fingers to trace the outline of the square.
Add several drops of blue food coloring to the water. Have the students observe what is happening. Say to them, “Can you see how the blue color is moving through the water?”
After watching the water for a few minutes, have the students stir the water until the blue is uniformly spread throughout the water. At this point, you can let the students play with the water by blowing bubbles in it or by pouring it into other containers.
Take if Further: Redo the demonstration with cold to see how the color moves more slowly through the water.
Book List
Here are several books on the color blue.
- Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
- Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman
- Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry
- Little Blue Truck Leads the Way by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry
Additional Activities
- Art: Cut a sponge in the shape of a square. Have the students dip the square sponge into blue paint and stamp the paper with it.
- Math: Cut out ten blue squares and use them to practice counting to ten.
- Fine Motor: Mix up a batch of blue finger paint using 1 cups of flour, 2 TBSP of liquid soap, ¾ cups of water, and blue food coloring. Let the students use the blue finger paint to create a design on wax paper with their fingers.
- Notebook: Create a page in the students’ notebook for the color blue and the shape of a square. On each page place stickers or pictures that match the color or shape.
- Movement: Go on a blue hunt. Give your students a blue piece of paper or a blue object. Then, have them search around the house for objects that match.
- Snack: Dye some milk blue using food coloring and serve the blue milk with blueberry muffins.
Here’s a link to blue themed songs, poems and fingerplays.
Our Experience
My son was fascinated with the blue color moving through the water and wanted me to do the demonstration several times. Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that his favorite color is blue.
We didn’t get to the art activity this week, but we did do the fine motor one. He loved getting his hands messy, but wasn’t so good at keeping it all on the paper.
He also enjoyed going on a hunt for blue items. On the other hand, the blue milk and blueberry muffins didn’t impress him.
I hope you and your students enjoy the activities above. Please feel free to share your experiences or link to a blog post that shows what you guys have done in the comments below!
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