Colour Diary

EXPERIENCING COLOURS:
Colours are all around us

Create a colour diary

Details:

• All ages

• Time: 15 minutes+

• Learning Outcome: Notice, document and describe the myriad of colours present in our daily lives.

• Colour Concepts: Recognize the important role colour plays in our daily lives.

Materials:

• Background - Experience colours all around us

• Background - Colour plays many roles in our lives

• Camera/phone/tablet

• Sketchbook (paper or digital)

Instructions:

• Document the colours around you by taking photos:

  • What colours are your clothes today?

  • What colours are the foods you ate today?

  • What colours surround you? On the walls, floors, furniture?

• Create a photo-collage of the colours you see.

• Name and describe the colours you have collected in your collage. What is their hue family and character?

• Compare your colour collection with your classmates.

Vocabulary:

• Character, Hue family

Questions & Observations:

• How do your colour palettes compare to your classmates? Are their similarities in hue families and/or characters, or does everyone have a different set of colours?

• Are the colours in your collage related in any way? (e.g. all pale or muted; same hue family)

• Can you give names to your colours?

• Are there any colours not part of your collection?

More to Explore:

• This exercise has many possible variations. Single colour palettes can be collected, or comparisons between different locations, or different types of objects can be made:

  • Compare palettes inside the classroom, and outdoors

  • Compare palettes inside the classroom, and at home

  • Do an urban colour-walk and collect a palette based on local architecture

  • Collect palettes outside at different times of the year

  • Compare palettes based on foods on your plate

  • Create a palette with the clothes in your wardrobe

• As you start to document the colours around you, keep a Colour Journal as a record and source of inspiration for future creative projects.

Related exercise:

• If you have not yet done exercises using the sorting set, check out Naming Colours in the Sorting Set to become familiar with characters, and expanding the ways you can describe colours.