The Colour Literacy Project
Building a 21st Century Foundation
Beta-Testing 2025-2026

The Colour Literacy Project (CLP) re-frames colour education as a broad, meta-disciplinary, exploratory experience, with hands-on exercises structured around four cornerstones of colour knowledge:

LANGUAGES
Describing Colours: from hues to 3D models
*Exercises that expand colour language beyond 2D hue circles to 3D colour models.*
Key Exercises
-**Arranging hue families**
-**Arranging characters**
-**Character associations**
-**Lightness/value sort**

SCIENCES
Perceiving Colours: from light to context
*Exercises that explore the elements of colour perception.*
Key Exercises
-**Expanding the spectrum**
-**Examining the spectrum**
-**Orange cube**
-**Koffka ring**
-**Munker-White illusion**

ARTS & DESIGN
Working with Colours: from mixing to storytelling
*Exercises that focus on the use of colours across disciplines.*
*Key Exercises*
-**Comparative mixing of red and blue hues**
-**Mixing characters with spinning disks**
-**Comparing complements**

HUMANITIES
Experiencing Colours: **from unaware to engaged**
*Exercises that build awareness of the wonder of colours all around us.*
Key Exercises
-**Flower Fan Deck**
-**Hue Familes Model**
-**Lightness/Chroma Models**

The overarching framework of knowledge adapted by the CLP encompasses many disciplines, and sets the stage for acquiring higher order, discipline-specific knowledge. Please also read our FAQ, for additional background on our approach.

THE ABC’s of COLOUR LITERACY

The 2025-2026 beta-test curriculum consists of three scaffolded units - Unit A, B and C - which can be done back to back or spread out over the year depending on where colour fits into your curriculum planning.

Each unit consists of hands-on lessons introducing core concepts from language, science, arts and design and the humanities. Each lesson includes one or two key exercises intended to be covered in a 30 minute class period. The supplementary exercises and practice/projects can be done in class or at home to help reinforce the lessons.

Note: All the exercises can be modified to make them age appropriate for your students. We welcome your suggestions for variations on the exercises depending on age and abilities.

**Unit A - All About Hues**
Connects colours to light and our visual system and introduces the concept of non-spectral hues.

**Unit B - From 2D to 3D**
Expands from hue circles to simple 3D models and introduces the concept of colour ‘character’.

**Unit C - Colour Interactions**
Explores the impact of a variety of contextual situations on our perception of colours.

Unit A
All About Hues

Unit A - Lesson 1 - Language
Hue Families and Characters

Cornerstone: Describing Colours
Core Concept: Hues are arranged in a natural order based on the spectrum.
Purpose: Introduce the Hue Circle and Hue Families.

Key Exercise
**Arranging hue families**
Use the CHROMO sorting set to identify and arrange hue families

Supplementary Exercise
**Intro to hue families**
**Sort 4 hues - Red, Yellow, Green and Blue into hue families**

Supplementary Project
**Nine** **Hue Circle - Collage**
Collaborate to find magazine clippings in the nine hue families. Make a big hue circle to hang in the classroom.

See FAQ entry: Can the exercises be adapted for students with limited colour vision?

Unit A - Lesson 2 - Science
The Rainbow and the Spectrum
(Where is Magenta?)

Cornerstone: Perceiving Colours
Core Concept: Colour is a perceptual experience
Purpose: Introduce non-spectral colours and expand hue names.

Key Exercise
**Expanding the spectrum**
Create a spectrum, and see how many hues you can find! Can you find Magentas?

Supplementary Exercise
**Examining the spectrum**
How many colours are in the rainbow? If your response is ‘seven’ - take a closer look! What’s missing?

Supplementary Exercise
**Playing with Polarization**
Create colourful compositions with polarized light

The Science of Colour Perception.
Hansen, Calder, 2016.
Video Length - 4:54

How Rainbows Form

Physics Girl
Video Length - 3:54

Magenta: The colour doesn’t exist?
BBC
Video Length -4:09

Background Reading
o https://colourliteracy.org/colour-is-a-perception
o https://colourliteracy.org/nonspectral-colours

Unit A - Lesson 3 - Arts and Design
Mixing Hues in Different Media

Cornerstone: Working with Colours
Core Concept: When we mix coloured media, the resulting mixture depends on the process.
Purpose: Introduce different mixing processes including optical/partitive mixing.

Key Exercise
**Comparative mixing of red and blue hues**
Create unexpected mixtures using spinning disks! Compare with LEDs.

Supplementary Exercise
**Subtractively mix hues in opaque media**
Explore the subtractive mixing process using pastels, tempera, opaque watercolors, and acrylic paints.

Supplemental Exercise
**Gradient Hue Circle**

Mix vivid hues in opaque media to make a nine hue circle.

Background Reading
o https://colourliteracy.org/comparative-mixing

Practice and Projects
All About Hues

Cornerstone: Experiencing Colours
Core Concept: Colours play many essential roles in our lives.
Purpose: Expand awareness of the colours around us.

Key Exercise
Flower Fan Deck

Use the printed CHROMO Flower Fan Deck to find colour matches to the sorting set.

Supplementary Exercise
**Surrounded by colours**
Notice the variations of colours in your surroundings

Supplementary Exercise
**Colour diary**
Make a colour diary to record your colour explorations.

Unit B
From 2D to 3D

Unit B - Lesson 1 - Language
Characters and Character Sets

Cornerstone: Describing Colours
Core Concept: Colours can be described by more than just their hue name.
Purpose: Introduce the new term ‘Character’ related to colour.

Key Exercise
**Arranging characters**
Use the CHROMO sorting set to identify and arrange characters

Key Exercise
**Character associations**
What types of words do you associate with each colour character?

Supplementary Exercise
**Household sort**
Sort household items of the same Hue into their colour Characters.

Unit B - Lesson 2 - Science
Light, Shadow and Shade

Cornerstone: Perceiving Colours
Core Concept: Many factors influence how we perceive colour.
Purpose: Introduce the perception triangle: light-object-visual system.
Introduce the grey scale.

Key Exercise
**Orange cube**
Look closely at an orange cube and notice how light affects colour. Browns are dark oranges!

Key Exercise
**Changing spatial contexts**
Notice how changing the spatial context affects a perceived colour

Supplementary Exercise
**Changing colours of nature**

Notice and document how light influences the colours you see outside.

Background Reading
o https://colourliteracy.org/colour-is-a-perception

Unit B - Lesson 3 - Arts and Design
Mixing Colour Characters

Cornerstone: Working with Colours
Core Concept: We can use colour to communicate.
Purpose: Introduce character language in addition to mixing language.

Key Exercise
**Mixing characters with spinning disks**
Compare the results of optical mixing characters with painted tints, tones and shades.

Supplementary Exercise
**Mixing characters in transparent media**
Explore the subtractive mixing process using filters and watercolour paints.

Supplementary Exercise
Painting a Flower Fan Deck

Paint petals in the nine hues with four characters. Put them together for a custom colour reference tool.

Practice and Projects
From 2D to 3D

Cornerstone: Experiencing Colours
Core Concept: Colours can be organized in 3D.
Purpose: Introduce a basic colour character model with nine hue planes.

Key Exercise
**Hue Familes Model**
Map colour characters into hue planes and build a 3D model.

Supplementary Project
**Mood clock**
Choose a range of colours that you associate with specific moods or emotions.

Supplementary Quiz
**Odd one out**
Test your knowledge of colour characters!

Unit C
Colour in Context

Unit C - Lesson 1 - Language
Expanding Colour Descriptions: Lightness(Value)and Chroma

Cornerstone: Describing Colours
Core Concept: Vivid hues are not all the same lightness/value.
Purpose: Introduce the topic of limited colour vision and synesthesia.

Key Exercise
**Lightness/value sort**
Use the CHROMO sorting set to ort hue families by the lightness/value attribute.

Supplementary Exercise
**Lights on and off**
What happens to colours when we turn the lights off?

Supplementary Exercise
**Chromatic vs. achromatic sort**
Discover the differences between chromatic and achromatic colours.

Unit C - Lesson 2 - Science
Exploring Colour Interactions

Cornerstone: Perceiving Colours
Core Concept: Our responses to colour are complex.
Purpose: Introduce the role of context in perceiving colours.

Key Exercise
**Koffka ring**
Explore the nature of contextual colour.

Key Exercise
**Munker-White illusion**
Explore the nature of contextual colour.

Supplementary Exercise
**Simultaneous contrast**
Explore the effect of neighbouring colours.

Unit C - Lesson 3 - Arts and Design
Complementary Colours are Contextual

Cornerstone: Working with Colours
Core concept: When we use coloured media, the complements depend on the process.
Purpose: Introduce variations of complementary colours and explore complementary mixing processes.

Key Exercise
**Comparing complements**
Did you know there is more than one way to define a set of complementary colours?

Supplementary Exercise
**Filtered light sources**
Set up a stage and play with filters. What happens when the filter and object are the same colour? Complementary colours?

Supplementary Exercise
**Play with Coloured Shadows**
Set up a stage and play with lighting design using Red, Green and Blue LEDs.

Unit C - Practice and Projects
Colour Communication

Cornerstone: Experiencing Colours
Core concept: Colours are a non-verbal communication language.
Purpose: Explore communicating with colour combinations.
Practice visualizing colours in relation to the grey scale.