This week, our friend Ilinca from the blog Grumpy Dumpling shares one her favorite classroom activities for practicing colors and fine motor skills.
Color recognition is an important skill that young learners need to practice. One way is to practice through hands-on activities that are fun and engaging. Here is an activity that my students enjoyed so much that we decided to have a permanent sensory center with colored oats and rice in our classroom.
Even though there are quite a lot of steps to making this sensory bin, once you have painted the oats, you can reuse them over and over again. Store them in a bag in a cool, dry place like a drawer or cupboard.
To color the oats, you’ll need one small freezer bag for each color, food coloring, vinegar (optional), and oats. Place the oats in a freezer bag and add some food coloring. The quantity depends on the type of food coloring you are using, start with a small amount and add more as needed. Adding a half to a tablespoon of vinegar can help cement the colors. Close the bag and shake vigorously until the color is spread throughout the oats. Take the oats out of the bag and spread them on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven on a low temperature for 30 min to dry. That’s it!
Place the dried oats into a bin or small tray. If you have only a couple of students, you can use a bowl for each student. Add some small colored objects like bear counters, erasers, pompoms, beads, magnetic alphabet letters, etc. While the teacher sings a stanza from “I See Something Blue” (about a color), have the children pick up objects of that color with scoopers or tweezers. Sing the next verse as you find objects of that color.
This is a great activity for color recognition skills, fine motor skills, as well as listening skills. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
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Ilinca is a kindergarten teacher from Finland. Visit her blog, Grumpy Dumpling for more activity and classroom ideas.
