Location: outdoor

Materials: paint sample cards from the hardware store

It's very easy to find an opportunity to talk about basic colors, but we all know the colors we observe in nature aren't always that simple. Paint sample cards provide a fun matching game and conversation starter for the many different shades of color we can find.

Bring the cards outside for outdoor play time or nature walks. Challenge children to match what they see to the colors on the cards. Which shade of yellow does this flower match? Is this rock more of a blue-grey or purple-grey?

Possible Extensions:

• If your children are really excited about using the cards you can laminate them, punch holes in them, and then connect them using ribbon or a binder ring
• Bring out the paint cards for any conversation on color, whether it's indoors or outdoors
• Use extra paint cards in art projects, you can cut them up and add them to collages or experiment painting on top of them with different colors