Welcome to the ARTventurous Academy!

I want to teach you how to teach your kids or students all about the fundamentals of art, but with a bit of nature and adventure.

Today’s lesson: the element of color

LESSON 4

how to teach the element of color free lesson — Free Color Art Lesson

Have we met yet?

*Me and my son before an online art lesson*

Hey there! I’m Abbey Allen—elementary art teacher, online educator, and artist. I’m also a mom of two and was homeschooled.

I believe kids learn best when they’re engaged, curious, and excited. That’s why I design art projects that take them beyond the page—into nature, into the animal kingdom, and into the world around them.

Get to Know Me

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Let’s dive into this free art lesson!

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The Fundamentals of Art—and Why You Should Care

If you’re coming here from a previous How to Teach Art lesson, scroll past this.

As a kid, I was mostly self-taught when it came to drawing, sketching, and painting. Of all the different art topics, the ones I hated the most we’re honestly the ones all about the elements of art. It’s so funny because I love teaching elements of art now! That’s because I figured out ways to incorporate the elements of art into topics that kids actually love.

The basic fundamentals of art can be divided into the elements of art and the principles of design.

Some people have different definitions of a couple of these and some of them overlap, but I’m just gonna give you seven elements of art and seven principles of design.

These are the 14 that I based all of my classes and resources off of.

Elements of Art:

1) line ➿

2) texture 🧶

3) shape 💠

4) color 🌈

5) value 🌅

6) space 🌆

7) form 🪩

Principles of Design:

1) contrast 🔲

2) emphasis 🐞

3) balance 🐙

4) pattern 🐝

5) movement 🌊

6) rhythm 💃

7) unity 🖼️

These fundamentals of art are the basis behind all works of art.

How to Teach the Element of Color

1) Play with color.

Play is the best way to introduce a new concept to kids in my opinion.

Set up a bin, box, or table full of items with various colors. Create 3 groups of colors: warm, cool, and neutral.

WARM COLORS: red, orange, yellow
COOL COLORS: green, blue, purple
NEUTRALS: black, white, brown, grey

Here’s the list of items for the tray I made:

🌈 WARM COLORS

crayons
magnets
a banana
popsicle sticks
wooden puzzle pieces
paint tube

🌈 COOL COLORS

crayons
popsicle sticks
wooden puzzle pieces
purple shells
toys

🌈 NEUTRALS

shells
rocks
crayons
wooden elephant
wooden stars

color art lesson play bin — *Great for little kids, too!*

Prompt your kids or students to start thinking about the colors they see.

How many groups of colors do you see?

How are they similar?

How are they different?

Which group do you like the best?

Let kids touch and play with items before continuing on. Keep bringing their attention to the colors instead of the items. Allow them to group the colors anyway they like. There are lots of ways to group colors!

8+ EXTENSION

Kids who are older may play in a different way. Try making this bin into a mystery! Prompt them with the question, “Why did I group these items like this?” Guide them to discovering the warm, cool, and neutral categories. You can lay out a color wheel as an assistant. They’ll love solving the mystery!

2) Explain the element of color.

Color is light bouncing off of objects, creating the shades we see in the rainbow. The main colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Even though these 6 are the main colors, your eyes can actually see millions of shades and hues!

(NOTE: I generally skip over indigo because it’s not a common color word in the English language. It’s also just a combination of blue and purple.)

If you want to go deeper into color, you can explain color temperatures.

This is how I explain color temperatures in my art journals:

“Color can be divided into 3 temperatures — warm, neutral, and cool.
Red, orange, and yellow are warm, while blue, purple, and (usually) green are cool. ”

That’s it! This part doesn’t have to be fancy.

3) Go on an ARTventure.

Now your kids or students will be ready to search for colors around them, so get them outside! Nature is the best place to start.

Go outside and hunt for different colors and collect them on a clipboard or color wheel. Try to find all the shades of the rainbow + some neutrals.

You can check out this done-for-you resource by Pen and Lens if you want an easy activity.

Get more detail on how to do this by clicking the image below.

nature color scavenger hunt — By P en and Lens on Etsy

Shop here

4) Observe how artists use colors in artwork.

This is the most important connection point! If your kids or students can see how color are used in art, they’ll be able to replicate it.

Flip through these slides to see artwork I’ve used as examples in my classes. I’ve also included prompts for you to use!

Download Free Lesson

5) Make your own!

At this point, your kids will be ready to make their own artwork. There are 2 ways you can go about this:

nature art color lesson — *Kids collect warm, cool, and neutral colored flowers. Then they color their own.*

PROCESS ART: Grab art supplies and let your kids create without instructions! You’ll be amazed to see how all the information they’ve learned about the element of color spills out in their artwork.

PRODUCT ART: If your kids or students are looking for more structure, try out the activities in my Nature Art Journal! The fourth unit is alllll about the element of color.