Color Hunt
This is the 2nd post in our new series Unplanned and On The Go. My daughter is starting to refuse nap ( pray for me) and if she doesn’t go to sleep we go outside if at all possible for a calm walk. On our walk she decided she wanted to look for colors and I suggested she take pictures with my iPhone. She is a whiz at handling my iPhone so with it’s ugly but kid friendly cover on it we set out to find some colors! It was a huge hit.
What we were doing : Going for a walk in an attempt to clam down and chill out before trying to nap again. I don’t give up easily and naps are my me time!
What I did to spark the activity : Handed my daughter my iPhone and said “Take pictures of the colors you see.”
What it turned into : A fun colorful photo safari! As we walked I had her find a color and then I handed her my phone to take a picture. I didn’t want her walking and looking down at the phone at the same time. Not a safe option for her or the phone. 
I was fascinated by which colors stood out for her in the photos she took. We also found that when given the chance to be very careful with my phone she was. It was a lesson in trust and responsibility. I was super impressed with her pictures – she took each herself and while I re sized them for the post I only edited a few a tiny bit for clarity.
What is your favorite on the go activity with you kids? Leave a comment and let’s talk!
Finding activities that both my two year old and her six year old brother enjoy isn’t always easy. More and more he wants to do something she doesn’t have the patience or skill for yet. One thing they both love are hunts. Simple materials, fun game and a ton of learning. This bug hunt has color matching , counting and sorting as well as a ton of fun. This activity was a great way for both of them to play and learn together. As you will see they worked at their own level while working together. Although we used bugs you could use any small items like plastic Easter eggs, simple blocks or even cut out shapes.
- Gather your materials. You will need many multi colored small objects to hide, construction paper in the same colors ( we chose a rainbow theme but you could do any colors) and some kids eager to find things.
- Spread your colors out on a flat surface like the floor or table.
- Hide your bugs. Can you see any in this picture ?
- Explain the rules of the game. Find the bug and sort it in the correct color. For my son I added the following challenges : After he found a bug and put it in the right color I asked him to see which color had the most bugs and which had the least. This made him pause so his sister had a slight chance at finding some of the bugs and gave him a little math lesson too.
- Start finding those bugs!
They were so quick it was hard for me to catch any pictures.
- My daughter loved sorting them and every now and then I would sneak one into the wrong color and she’d fix it.
- When we found them all I asked them to count. My daughter counted all the bugs in each color
and my son counted all the bugs in every color. He also told me which color had the most, which had the least .
- After that he went off to play Lego but my daughter and I played two more times.
Books About Bugs
We try to always match up activities with books to reinforce active play with quality reading time. Here are 19 great bug books for you and your little bug hunters to check out.
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- Gather your materials. We used a baby food freezer tray but an ice cube tray, or egg carton among other things would work well. Also scissors and a color of foam ( can you tell I bought a big thing of foam a few weeks ago?) or construction paper for each section. A backyard, beach, park…
- Cut your foam/paper into pieces small enough to line the bottom of the tray/carton. For younger kids choose colors that you kn0w they have a chance of finding a match. You don’t want it to be too easy , but too much of a challenge just frustrates everyone. If a child is frustrated they won’t learn, our goal is to challenge and learn!
- Head outside – my son couldn’t wait to get outside so as you can see he’s as per usual in his pjs!
- Start finding things to match. Start off by choosing a color with your child and both go looking, if they have a hard time finding a match find one, and go to it but don’t announce you have found it. Say something like “Hey Bug I think there is a match over here, can you find it” narrow down the are for them, if they still can’t pick up the object and have them match it in the tray.
- Continue working together or if they want to work all alone, watch your child explore and make connections, that is exciting and fun too!
- After you have made all your matches, talk about what you have found- how it feels what it does ( rock lines a path for us to walk on, a flower provides pollen for bees etc…).
Books!
Kids love finding things, they are nosey , I mean curious by nature so let’s capitalize on it and have some fun with Colors! Today’s books are really worth checking out, so if you only have time for one thing sit down and read , it’s so important!
- Gather your materials. You can use any bag, pillowcase that your child can hold. Some colored paper or markers to make signs in the color of your choice. Some tape to hold the signs on.
- Depending on your child’s age and attention span you can do just one or a variety of colors. If you have more than one child you can assign different colors to each child too!
- Go Hunting!! If your child is really young, you can gather the objects before and make them accessible but I would suggest that if your child is 2 or over there is no need for this.
- Using the toys , household objects you have found you can build a tower, line them up biggest to smallest or simply play!
- For older children once you find all the objects you can you can come back and count what you have found, and go back and find another color.
Um um
went the little brown dog one day
um um
went the little brown dog
um um
went the little brown dog one day
and they all went um um ah!
But we all know dogs go
la di da da da
la di da da da
la di da di da
we all know dogs go
la di da da da
they don’t go
um um ah!
Other verses continue with ” green frog” , ” white cat” , “red bird”, “blue fish”
“Hello, Red Fox” by Eric Carle
” A Color of his Own ” by Leo Lionni
” Purple Green and Yellow” by Robert Munsch
