Beta-Testing 2025-2026

Fundamental concepts
for a universal foundation in colour literacy

The CLP has identified ten fundamental concepts, for a universal foundation in colour literacy. These concepts represent fundamental knowledge about colour, and form the basis upon which higher order, discipline-specific knowledge can later be built. We have assembled a short list of exercises and supporting material, to help teachers of all levels bring colour literacy to their class.

Pathways are organized into Clusters focused on a fundamental colour concept.
Each cluster has a set of exercises designed to explore the fundamental concept step-by-step.
Click on the exercise links below to go to the lesson plans for each exercise.

PATHWAYS to COLOUR LITERACY

The 2025-2026 beta-test curriculum consists of three scaffolded pathways based on the CLP Cornerstones. The Pathway exercises can be done back to back or mixed and matched depending on where colour fits into your curriculum planning.

Each pathway consists of hands-on lessons introducing fundamental concepts from language, science, arts and design and the humanities. Each lesson includes an introduction to a fundamental concept plus one or two key exercises intended to be covered in a 40 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.

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

JUMPSTART PATHWAY

If you are new to colour, and want to see what the Colour Literacy Project has to offer, check out the Eye-opener exercises on the Jumpstart Pathway to begin your journey into colour! They are also included in the cornerstone pathways and colour lessons shown below.

**Examining the Rainbow**
How many colours are in the rainbow? If your response is ‘seven’ - take a closer look!

**Arranging Characters**
The Character of a colour can be vivid, muted, pale or dark. Explore colour characters and expand your colour vocabulary!

**Hue Planes Model**
Many colour studies begin with the colour wheel. We don’t! Jump into colour in 3-dimensions and expand how you see colour!

**Orange Cube**
Build an orange cube (or use a uniform-coloured object) and notice how light affects the colours we see!

**Munker-White Illusion**
Do the colours match on both sides of this image? Explore why **context is everything** for colour!

**Comparative mixing** **using spinners**
Create unexpected mixtures using spinning disks! Compare with LEDs.

THE CORNERSTONE PATHWAYS

EXPERIENCING COLOURS PATHWAY
Building Colour Awareness

**Surrounded by Colour**
Notice all the variations of colours in your surroundings.

**Scavenger Hunt**
Find a range of colours in your environment

Colour Codes Quiz
Mix and Match the colours and the role they play.

DESCRIBING COLOURS PATHWAY
Expanding from 2D to 3D

Lesson 1
Hue Families

Supplementary Exercise
Intro to hue families

Lesson 2
Hue Characters

Supplementary Exercise
**Household sort**

Lesson 3
Lightness and Chroma

Key Exercise
**Chromatic vs. achromatic sort**

Supplementary Exercise
**Chroma/saturation sort**

Practice and Projects

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

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

Key Exercise
Lightness/Chroma Models
Build a simple 3D model based on lightness and chroma

Supplementary Exercise
**Colour Naming Game**
Fun introduction to the difficulty of describing colours.

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

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.

Supplementary Exercise
**Colour and Emotion**
Which communicates more? Hue or colour character?

Supplementary Project
**Squares & diamonds**
Choose colours from an image and create an abstract visual equivalent that tells the same ‘colour story’.

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

PERCEIVING COLOURS PATHWAY
Introducing the Colour Perception Triangle

Lesson 1
Rainbows & Spectrum

Supplementary Exercise
**Examining the spectrum**

Supplementary Exercise
**Playing with Polarization**.

Lesson 2
Light & Shadow

Supplementary Exercise
**Lights on and off**

Supplementary Exercise
**Changing colours of nature**.

Lesson 3
LEDs and Filters

Supplementary Exercise
**Filtered light sources**

Supplementary Exercise
**Play with Coloured Shadows**.

WORKING with COLOURS PATHWAY
Exploring Colour Communication

Lesson 1
Colour in Context

Supplementary Exercise
**Simultaneous contrast**

Lesson 2
Mixing Processes

Key Exercise
**Comparative mixing of red and blue**

Key Exercise
**Mixing with spinning disks**

Supplementary Exercise
**Mixing in transparent media**

Lesson 3
Device Dependent

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

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

Supplementary Project
**Painting papers in characters**
Collaborate and use tempera paints to create a variety of painted papers in each hue family for use in the classroom.

Lesson 3: Device Dependent Mixing Processes

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