This blog post outlines an individual lesson plan for teaching children about the colours of their clothing, how to graph colour information and the reason behind using certain colours in professions. This lesson is intended to be simple enough to complete in one day and is part of a collection of lesson plans that go together to create an entire colours unit study.
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A lesson plan serves as a roadmap to help keep lessons organised and focused. Lesson plans are detailed guides that outline what you’ll teach each day, how you’ll teach it, and what resources you’ll need. Each lesson plan can be connected to your unit studies and, by extension, your year-long curriculum goals.
In this lesson plan you will find hands on activity suggestions to teach children to identify and graph the colours of different articles of clothing and to explore and discuss the colours of clothing worn by different professions. You will also find book, video, song and snack suggestions along with ideas for setting up related learning centres.
Target Age
3-6 years. You are the best judge of how well any lesson plan will work for your child or children and whether you need to adapt it for your home environment.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the colours of different articles of clothing
- Learn different ways of displaying data
- Explore and discuss the colours of clothing worn by different professions
Preparation and Supplies
- A Clothing Chart (either your own or download my free one)
- A selection of coloured markers or crayons
- People Cutouts On Card or Purchase Paper People Cut Outs
- Craft materials: glitter, glue, decorative materials
- Dressing up clothes for different professions or pictures of different professions
- Cut out circles of coloured card or purchase Round Cutouts
Hands On Activities
Discussing the Colours and Charting Our Clothing
Create a chart similar to the one shown below or download my colours lesson plan pdf which contains this chart. Start by asking your child or children to describe the colours of the clothing you are wearing and then demonstrate how to display that information on the chart by putting a mark in the correct portion of the chart using markers in colours that match the clothing.
Invite each child to then do the same while describing their own clothes. If you have only one child you are working with perhaps you could chart part or all of their wardrobe together. Once all the clothing items are charted discuss the results.
Discussing the Meaning of Professions Clothing
Gather different articles of dress up outfits that people from various professions wear. Examples include, firefighters, police officers, nurses or doctors. Encourage your children to dress up.
Talk about the colour of each outfit and ask them why they think they are those colours. If you don’t have any dressing up clothes then look at pictures (some are provided in my lesson plan pack) or watch some videos and discuss those.
There are videos in the suggestions section below that can help with these discussions.
Learning Centres
You do not have to set up all of these centres I have provided a selection so you can choose which suit your children and home environement best.
A learning centre is a designated area or table within the home or outdoor space where children engage in specific activities focused on particular skills or subjects. Learning centres provide an organised and intentional way to structure the learning environment, especially for young children.
Art
Cardboard dress-up people. Cut out a number of people outlines from sturdy cardboard – I have provided a template in my colours lesson plan pdf – or purchase some people cut outs. Make sure the cut out is large enough to easily handle and draw details onto. Provide glitter, glue, markers and other decorative materials. Encourage your children to decorate and dress the people as they wish.
Math
Provide card circles in the same colours as those on the clothing chart used during the hands on activities. Invite the children to use the circles to tally the colours of the clothing by creating piles for each colour. These circles can be used for tallying the colours of other items such as cars that go past your window or the colour of items in a certain room of your house.
Nature
Discuss with your children about how it is only humans that wear clothing but that other animals have coverings such as fur, scales, spikes and feathers. Provide pictures and examples of different animals for the children to look at and explore. There are some examples in my lesson plan download.
Writing
Set out markers, pencils and sheets of paper with the following sentence: “I love to wear my ______________ _____________” (you will find this in the colours lesson plan pdf). Also put out some old magazines, scissors and glue.
Encourage the children to find items of clothing they like in the magazines and cut it out and stick it to a sheet. Invite them to complete the sentence for the item of clothing they have selected. For example, “I love to wear my green coat”.
Further Resources
In this section you will find suggestions for books, videos, snacks and songs that will help with your lesson.
Books
Videos
Snacks
Provide fruits that have coverings that need to be removed such as bananas and oranges. Ask the children what the peel is there for.
Songs
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go round the mulberry bush On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we wash our face, Wash our face, wash our face. This is the way we wash our face On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we comb our hair, Comb our hair, comb our hair. This is the way we comb our hair On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we brush our teeth, Brush our teeth, brush our teeth. This is the way we brush our teeth On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we put on our clothes, Put on our clothes, put on our clothes. This is the way we put on our clothes On a cold and frosty morning.
Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go round the mulberry bush On a cold and frosty morning.
Old MacDonald Had A Farm
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o
And on his farm he had some cows
Ee i ee i oh
With a moo-moo here
And a moo-moo there
Here a moo, there a moo
Everywhere a moo-moo
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o
And on his farm he had some chicks
Ee i ee i o
With a cluck-cluck here
And a cluck-cluck there
Here a cluck, there a cluck
Everywhere a cluck-cluck
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o
Repeat with as many animals and sounds as you can think of.
Let me know in the comments if you use this lesson plan and if you want to see more of the same.
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