Colorful Words

The following table contains a list of various color words. Below the table you will find a series of activities designed to acquaint students with color words as well as to practice language skills. I originally developed this lesson plan as a learning center but later adapted it as a whole class vocabulary study.

Whites	alabaster, cream, ivory, pearl
Reds	carmine, cerise, cherry, coral, crimson, damask, pink, rose, ruby, salmon, scarlet, titian, vermillion
Oranges	apricot, copper, peach, rust, tangerine
Greens	chartreuse, emerald, lime, reseda, forest, kelly, olive
Browns	beige, bronze, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, ecru, fawn, hazel, henna, khaki, mahogany, sienna, tan, taupe, umber
Blues	aquamarine, azure, bice, cerulean, indigo, sapphire, turquoise, midnight, navy
Yellows	amber, buff, canary, champagne, eggshell, gold, lemon, ocher, saffron, xanthic
Purples	fuchsia, heliotrope, lavender, lilac, magenta, maroon, mauve, plum, violet
Black	ebony, raven, sable, silver, slate

Activities:

1. Arrange the hues in each color group from light to dark by first making a list then by painting or coloring samples of the colors. If you want a real challenge try to locate samples of fabric, thread, yarn, or paint chips of the colors and attach them to you list next to each word they represent.
2. Make lists of color words that describe colors by naming objects. These objects can be either added as adjectives or be the names of the colors themselves.
   • pea green
   • avocado green
   • fire engine red
   • peach
   • periwinkle blue
3. List colors that can fit into more than one color category.
   • rust- is it orange or is it brown?
   • chartreuse- is it yellow or is it green?
4. Describe colors using words
   • slate= dark grayish-blue
   • reseda= dull grayish-green
5. Obtain paint catalogues or charts and list the color names in/on them. See which if any of these are not found in the dictionary. Tell which of these words you think may someday enter the dictionary due to common use in everyday language.