Yellow Week!

Home » Learn » Yellow Week!
|

Of course the first week of our Montessori-inspired Toddler Colour Study would have to be the colour of lemonade and sunshine!

I’m so excited to share with you our Yellow Week, a toddler unit study on the colour yellow. I encourage you to take it slow and attempt only what inspires you, leaving the rest.


To set up the week, you can create a big unveil or allow the subtle inclusions of the the week’s colour into your child’s prepared environment unveil the colour choice for you.

For Ella, I knew that including a yellow bracelet in with her clothing selection would lead to a conversation about the colour yellow. I also clipped some yellow art above her work table, where we eat breakfast, and had prepared a yellow-themed breakfast of Jamie Oliver’s scrambled eggs, proper polenta, and mango puree. The polenta was an unexpected hit!

bad hair
Shared with permission from Heng Swee Lim

Yellow Food

We love David’s Tea and tried their Tropicalia TeaPop, but G was too smart for me and insisted the only yellow drink that we’d be having was “LEMONADE!”

Other yellow foods that we explored:

  • bananas;
  • yellow apricots;
  • spaghetti squash (drizzled with maple syrup, and also made into a spicy pad thai);
  • roasted yellow peppers on sandwiches;
  • homemade goat cheese and chorizo ravioli;
  • preserved lemon curd (with scones — you could alternately eat it as part of a lemon meringue pie!);
  • corn on the cob with lots of butter.

Yellow Pasta Sensory Bin

Yellow Sensory Bin

Included in this yellow sensory bin:

  • yellow plastic Easter eggs that were filled with yellow-felted pom-poms
  • a wooden yellow car
  • collapsible, yellow measuring cups
  • uncooked pasta as the base

After lots of sifting and feeling through the pasta, G realized the “treats” that lay in the eggs, and proceeded to crack them all open, spilling the pom-poms into the pasta and adding a new layer of fun. I showed her how the yellow car could be spun around the bowl and crash into the pasta, and after a few tries she was able to figure out the momentum needed for the car to hold against the sides of the bowl. With an older child, this is a great opportunity to discuss kinetic movement.

We discussed the different sensations involved in the different materials — the pom-poms were soft and warm, the plastic eggs were cool, hard, and smooth, etc.

Yellow Nature Study

We went outside and picked dandelions. (And left the flowers alone that weren’t dandelions.) Fine motor control and manners.

Yellow Gross Motor

We practiced throwing and catching a yellow ball. Gross motor skills.

Yellow Zoology

We played with the yellow lions from our animal collection and G was allowed to watch some Youtube lion clips when her Grandpa was babysitting her. Nature Study.

Yellow-themed books

Yellow Books

Books we read to go with our yellow theme:

I also recited one of our yellow songs as a story. Language development.

Yellow Sand Tray

I set up a “sand tray” with cornmeal and seashells, including just the cornmeal at first and then introducing the seashells when G’s enthusiasm for that was winding down. She learned that rolling and dragging the seashells through the “sand” made different patterns, and I told G one of her Nana’s favourite stories, “Footprints in the Sand,” as she alternately ran her fingers through the silky grains and felt their grittiness between smooshed-together fingers. There are several poems about sand available that could be substituted. Sensory and language development.

Yellow Sensory Bath

Bath time! We used an organic banana essential oil, and opted not to colour the bath-water yellow for obvious reasons…

We included a pack of ducks purchased on clearance at the end of Spring, yellow sponges, yellow measuring cups, and frozen yellow water balloons (as seen above).

As a bonus bathtime activity, we used a non-toxic yellow bath crayon to draw suns (circles!) on the sides of the tub. Sensory, including shape recognition.


Yellow Art

Montessori and Waldorf both focus on the process more than the result, not insisting that the child model their works after a physical image, but rather that they simply enjoy the experience of artistic expression.

Other materials that could be used:

    • yellow playdough
    • finger paint
    • chalk
    • crayons
    • markers.

Sensory and art.

Yellow Music

For music and rhythm, we learned and clapped along to the song “You are my Sunshine,” and danced around to Coldplay’s “Yellow” and the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” Several times throughout the week, G could be heard shaking her maracas and singing about the “Yellow Nubmarine” and it became a favourite “poem” for me to recite. Music and rhythm.

Montessori-inspired (1)

I hope you enjoyed hearing about what we got up to for our yellow colour study! Be sure to pin this for later and check out the rest of our toddler unit studies for colours!

Similar Posts

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.