Getting outside and moving around is fun and invigorating. And, it can be an easy way to learn some basics and reinforce concepts, especially for kids with learning disabilities who usually find learning more of a challenge than fun.

The natural world has an abundance of colors and all shades, too. Think of green to begin. On the color wheel green is a secondary color formed by combining the primary colors of blue and yellow.

You can make a lesson based on each color - the primary red, yellow, blue; the secondary orange, green and purple, and additionally white, brown and black, too.

I suggest beginning with green because there is so much of it in nature, even in a cold climate. And if you are in the desert there might not be as much greenery, but there are still various cacti and succulents in shades of green.

Explain to the kids how we see green as a process of photosynthesis from the energy of the sun. That plants create chlorophyll which looks green. And that we in turn eat plants for nourishment. You'll have a science lesson and an art lesson at the same time.

Seeing so many shades of green in nature is an opportunity to reinforce what color is. Just learning the concept of color can be a challenge. It seems so natural to adults to know and recognize colors unless you are color-blind, that it may be hard to remember a time before we knew what color meant.

Take some time for a walk through the park or woods carrying along a bag to put in items in various shades of green, such as leaves of different plants, blades of grass, and stems of weeds. Try to pick up items from the ground rather than plucking them off plants. A note of warning, know ahead of time what poison oak and ivy look like and leave them alone. Remember this verse: leaves in threes, let them be.

Take your collection back home and lay them out on the table. Look them over and talk about how the items are similar and different. What they have in common. Of course, since you picked all green items, the first thing to point out is their green color. What would be different would be shapes and textures and thickness and smells.

In summary, take some time with your preschoolers or older kids, too, to go out in nature with the intent of identifying a particular color and everything you can find in that color. By looking at and feeling items of a certain color you are reinforcing that color in memory. Now, isn't that a fun way to learn colors.

Article by Susan Kramer

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