The abundance of color words makes teaching the names of all the colors a difficult task; however, having a good art activity for teaching preschoolers colors in French can have them rattling off color names in no time.
Teaching Colors in French
One common way to teach colors in French is to play 'Simon Says'. Actually, just about anything can be taught by playing this game, whether it's the French words for numbers, pieces of clothing, body parts, or items in the room (which are either normally in the classroom or simply brought in for learning those particular words).
For preschool students, playing a game and doing an art activity are much more likely to produce results than, for example, giving the children French worksheets. Preschoolers can't read and write yet, so the best way to teach them is always through oral interaction.
Art Activity for Teaching Preschoolers Colors in French
If you have the patience and materials, preschoolers will have even more fun by learning the colors with paints. Whether you use finger paints, watercolors, or general children's art class tempura paint, this activity is always a success.
Learning Colors
- Painting French Colors: First give all of the children paint of one color, then another, then another. You can do this over successive days; ideally the children will make an all red painting one day and an all green painting another day. This method will provide the best opportunity for the children to really learn which color is which.
- Introducing French Colors Through Paint: You can also progressively give the children more and more colors during a one hour art class; while this will work to introduce the children to the names of the colors, it will be difficult for the children to actually remember and use the words if they are taught all at once in this manner.
- Art "Studio" for Learning French: Hang up red paintings on one wall, and blue paintings in another area. Long after the art activity is over, you can use these 'areas' as reminders whenever you ask the children to put their books away in the blue area or get a glue stick or tape in the green area. Incorporating the colors into the classroom this way will enhance the likelihood of remembering the colors; in addition, you get a colorful classroom decorated with your own students' work!
- French "Water" Colors: Fill several clean, recycled water bottles with clear water. Have students add a few drops of food coloring to each bottle. The preschoolers can take turns shaking the water to mix the water and food coloring. Tell students the color names in French and have them repeat before taking their turn. Colors can be mixed, too, for even more fun.
- Color Collage: Children love to create collages, and creating a colorful collage is another fun way for young students to learn their French colors. Allow the children to cut out magazine pictures and glue scrap materials such as pieces of fabric, yarn, or old buttons to their paper on an area of their paper marked for that color. Have a set time period for finding each color, and when it's time to change, remind children of the next color in French and have the students repeat.
Reinforcing Colors
Once your preschoolers have completed this art activity for teaching preschoolers colors in French, you will want to reinforce the color names at several points throughout the year. A good way to do this is to get out the art supplies again.
- Following Directions and Reinforcing French Colors: Using crayons, paints, or any other art supplies with many colors that your kids love using, you can make a game out of following directions in art. Give every child a piece of blank paper and a box of crayons or other supplies, and then ask them to make certain things. Start with saying that every picture should start with green grass.
Then ask them to make a sun that is either orange or yellow. Ask them to make flowers that are red or pink; a school that is either brown or red, and a flag that is red, white and blue. In this way, some of the students' pictures will resemble each other, but in the end each picture will be slightly different from all the others. You can have the children draw anything, whether it's the Eiffel Tower or a boat on the ocean. The children will have a lot of fun doing the artwork, and they might not even know that they're reinforcing the color terms they already learned.
For preschoolers, art, songs, and games are all great ways to learn and to reinforce vocabulary. Plus, you have a lot of fun along the way!
