Name of Activity: Emotion Colors

Originating Idea: I wanted to see the colors that children associate with colors and how they
compare with the stereotypical color emotion combinations.

Curriculum Area
Highlight 1:
Approaches to learning
Social and emotional development
Physical development and health
Language, literacy, and communication
Mathematics
Creative arts
Science and technology
Social studies

KDIs
9. Emotions: Children recognize, label, and regulate their feelings.
Materials:
 Paper
 Markers of all color varieties

Appropriate Age group: 4 to 5 years old

Beginning of Activity:
During our small group I will lay out paper and markers for children to use. “Today we’re going to be talking
about the emotions we feel and the colors we might associate with each of them. Everyone will get their own
paper and choose one color to draw on their paper for each emotion. We are going to start with happiness.
Take turns grabbing the color you believe represents that emotion and draw with it on paper. We will go
through multiple emotions and see what everyone associates with each color.” I will go through the emotions
and children can use any amount of paper and markers to represent the emotions.

Middle of Activity
The children will only need to pick a single color and scribble with it on their paper. It is up to them if
the color represents the emotion named and if they are going to draw anything specific with the color.

Early: Children that are struggling to pick a color that matches the emotion can pick whatever color is their
favorite to draw with and we can just talk about how the emotion makes them feel. They can make their
drawing symbolic of each emotion.
Middle: They should be able to pick a color representing the color to them and draw a picture depicting the
emotion and how it makes them feel.
Later: They will be challenged to explain how the color makes them feel and talk about a time where they felt
that way along with drawing a picture representing the emotion.

End of Activity:
“We went through a couple emotions and used colored markers to represent each of the emotions on paper.
We all had different colors and representations of the emotions. We all feel emotions in different ways and
react differently, but it is important to identify each one. We are going to put our markers and extra paper into
our art area to use during work and choice time. Once the markers and paper are put away lets head to the
carpet for our movement for the day.”
Follow-up Ideas (2)
We can use the markers and paper for creative art with having them draw their own families or any other
prompt with the resources.
They can practice their fine motor skills by folding the paper as small as possible or creating their own origami.