Kinesthetic Color Theory

Near: Warm- and cool-
 colored yarn segments
Far: Our project 

by Elizabeth Van Allen

for scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

I don't scare easily.  Large teenagers looking to fight, real school lock downs, tattooed middle schoolers and parents with anger issues are nothing new to my life.  In contrast, letting small children move around my enormous art room on their own is the stuff that my nightmares are made of.  I have been actively avoiding it for a while now because I keep on involuntarily imagining how all sorts of different worst-case scenarios could play out if I let my sweet little angels loose in the big bad art room.  

This year I've had a few real light bulb moments about ways to connect art with movement in the classroom.  Before I could chicken out, I applied these light bulb ideas to two lessons that I was just starting.  For my first and second graders, I connected student movement with some basic color theory.  In my fifth and sixth grades I tackled the roles of warp and weft in weaving.  Even though it made me a little nervous, I ended up killing 2 birds with 1 stone and successfully taught these concepts to the kids while overcoming my own fear.  Below is a great 5-10 minute color theory activity that can be used with just about any class!

Disclaimer: no birds were actually hurt, maimed or otherwise threatened with any 
number of stones or other objects in the making and execution of this mini-lesson.

The Challenge: 

1. To help 1st and 2nd graders make an actual connection with the concept of warm and cool color families.
2. To guide young students through acceptable new forms of classroom movement.

The Materials: random pieces of yarn (or any other material like buttons or paper squares) in assorted colors, 2 areas of the room that can each be associated with warm or cool colors.

The Activity: 

Note: anything in italics was a key phrase or concept that I included in my classroom monologue.  Take it or leave it in your own unique situation, but they worked for me!

1. After teaching my students about warm colors (think colors that remind you of the sun and fire) and cool colors (think cool water and cool green grass on a hot summer's day), each student is given a piece of yarn.  Helpful hint: While handing out the yarn, take care to keep the balance of warm and cool colors you distribute fairly even.
2. Students are instructed to think (in your head, not out loud): is your yarn a warm color or a cool color?
3. Direct students with warm-colored yarn to stand, push in their chairs, and quietly walk to the _________.  Repeat for students with cool-colored yarn.  Whatever areas you choose, it works best if there is something in that color family there for the students to reference. In my classroom I use two carpets that reside in front of a small teaching easel.  One is marked with warm colored duct tape and the other with cool colored duct tape. Using this location also makes it very convenient to transition into a demonstration.  
4. Check for understanding by having the students hold up their yarns in one area and then the other.  Lavish praise on them for being exceptional human beings.
5. COLLECT THE YARN!!! Oh, and count them as you go to make sure nobody is holding out.  You'd be surprised by what a distraction one little piece of yarn can be!

This 'game' of vocabulary recall, matching, moving around and grouping can be used alone on a 1/2 day or a shortened class, but I've been pairing it with the demonstration portion of my warm & cool landscape lesson. 

Remember to keep a back-up activity on deck in case of over- or under- productive classes.  Not your classes or my classes of course, since we're so amazing with time management and pacing the lesson according to the character of each group.  For those villainous classes that elude our superhuman-like time management skills, I've used warm and cool 'I Spy' as a filler activity.  It's a super sneaky way to reinforce our activity's objective while making it feel like they're playing a game.

• Teacher: "I spy with my little eye something cool colored."
• Student: "Is it the purple bulletin board?"
• Teacher: "No, but good job finding a cool color!" (yay for positive reinforcement!)

What games and tricks have you used to facilitate real learning 

and/or reinforce good behavior?

One 2nd grader decided to plan out her warm and cool 
landscape project in a notebook first.  Color me impressed!