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Colorful Emotions

What feelings or memories do students associate with various colors? This activity will have students exploring how colors may affect each of us differently.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Have students brainstorm emotions or items a certain color might remind them of. Point out that there will be different associations for different students. For example, one student might say the color blue is associated with sadness, while another might say it evokes happiness because it is the color of water in a swimming pool. Discuss how colors can evoke a feeling or spark a memory based on our personal connection with the color.

  • Step 2

    Have students choose a color that could represent opposite or different emotions. Ask them to write a sentence and draw one interpretation of it on one side and another sentence and drawing of a different interpretation on the other side.

  • Step 3

    Ask students to present their art and talk about the different ways this color might affect people and include their personal associations with the particular hue.

Standards

SEL: Self-Awareness: Understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. 

SEL: Social Awareness: Understand the perspectives of and strengths of others. 

Adaptations

Have students explore monochromatic works of art such as "Revolving House" by Paul Klee (1921), "Two Sisters" by Pablo Picasso (1902), or "La Scapigliata" by Leonardo da Vinci (1508). Ask students to talk about the feelings each painting evoked in them.

Have students learn about how colors in different countries represent different things. For example, in the United States black clothing is usually worn to funerals, but in parts of China it is customary to wear white to funerals because it is considered a mourning color.