We’re Going on a Colour Hunt!

Connecting Kids To Nature Activity 

Nature is full of colour!  Sometimes bright, sometimes subtle.  It’s time to really open your eyes and take notice of the wide and varied colours all around you.

This activity could be done in your garden, a local park, a bush area in a national park, or just on a wander around your neighbourhood.

You could choose to hunt for one colour at a time, then another colour on your next outing and so on.  Or you could decide to record all colours you find at once, at the same location. 

If you’re just searching for one colour, add a bit of fun by wearing a shirt or hat of that colour!

Remember to record all the various shades of a colour, not just ‘green’.
Can you find reasons for various things being bright or subtle tones?  Camouflage?  Attracting insects or mates?  New or old growth?

Take along your nature journal to record your findings.  A camera is another great tool for this activity.

 Here’s a few ideas of where you might look for colour:

• Red- berries, bark, leaves, stems, birds, insects, flowers, rocks, earth
• Green- leaves, stems, moss, under bark on tree trunks, rocks, pond slime, birds, insects
• Blue- flowers, the sky, the sea, birds, specks in rocks, insects
• White- parts of tree trunks, flowers, sand, rocks, birds, insects, mushrooms and toadstools, other fungus
• Black- rocks, insects, trunks, birds and beaks, soil
• Pink- tree trunks, birds, flowers, insects, soil, rocks, fungus
• Silvery- trunks, rocks, spider webs, insects, the glint off water
• Orange- a sunset, rocks, birds, insects, flowers, fungus
• Brown- earth, trunks, animals, reptiles, insects, the underside of a mushroom
• The reds, oranges and pinks colours of a sunset
  
  
  
  

Don’t forget to look in hidden and unusual spots, like under things and in things… but always be aware of what else could be there, such as spiders, other insects and prickles!  Wearing light gardening gloves might be a good precaution.

Also, another good reason to wear gloves is that you may touch a plant that can cause a skin reaction.  Don’t put anything (including your hands) in your mouth or touch your eyes when you have been handling plants etc, and make sure you wash your hands as soon as possible afterwards.

Record and take photos of the colours you find.

When you get home, see if you can find coloured pencils to match some of the colours you found.  How many could you match… and were there lots more shades than the pencils you had?

Colour a swatch to illustrate what the colours looked like, in your nature journal.  You could even draw a picture, using the coloured pencils, showing some of the main colours you found and where you found them.

Another cool idea is to get out your paints and see if you can mix colours to match all the shades you found.  See if you can mix colours to show the subtle variations you found.