Color Matching Activity
Make your own matching activity using a clear page protector, oil and food coloring. This is the perfect activity for preschoolers and toddlers to keep them busy while learning!
Is it time to get those kiddos working on their colors? Skip the flash cards and boring activities and turn to something extra fun like this color match activity! This is actually a little bit of a science experiment and color matching activity all-in-one. Since there’s a layer of oil over the page protector, the water droplets don’t run off of the page! It would be a fun little science experiment to show to your young kiddos.
It’s truly the coolest free color sort game ever. And if your preschooler loves this, then you’ve got to check out my other free printables like this preschool summer math practice. I have loads of free resources to help you and your kiddos have fun while learning! Start with this color matching activity and then I bet you’ll want more exciting activities to print.
Why You’ll Love this Color Matching Activity
- This specific color matching activity printable is great for refining fine motor skills. The act of dropping the water droplets and dragging them across the page is wonderful motor skill development practice!
- Aside from the page protector and dropper, you likely already have all of the materials you need. This is a really simple activity and is truly so much fun.
- You can use this matching colors activity at home and in the classroom. Pre-k and kindergarten kiddos will both love it and think it’s so cool!
Supplies Needed
- Printable activity page – Print out this simple flower page that will be the base for this color matching activity. It’s a totally free printable! Just make sure that you have a way to print in color.
- Clear page protector – Use one of those clear plastic page protector sleeves to make little droplets of color all over the flower page printable.
- Food coloring – Grab the primary colors, orange, blue, red and green. You’ll need those to make the cups of colored water to complete this activity.
- Chopsticks – Use these to move the colored water droplets across the plastic page protector sleeve.
- Oil olive – Really, any kind of oil will work. You can use vegetable oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil — whatever you have on hand.
- Jars – You need some kind of clear cups or little bowls filled with 1-2 ounces of water. They need to be clear so that your kids can see the corresponding cup colors.
- Paper towel – Make sure you have plenty of paper towels on hand for clean-up and for any accidental spills that might happen.
- Dropper – Use a simple dropper to add the little droplets of colored water onto the printable activity page.
How to Complete this Color Matching Activity
Print the colored flower page on a color printer and then insert the page into your clean page protector and lay it flat on the table.
Add about ½ teaspoon of oil to the top of your page protector and use a paper towel to evenly spread it over the top side. Aim for a thin, even layer so that the water drops will glide smoothly on top of the oil.
Put 2 drops of food coloring in each jar and stir well to mix evenly the color throughout the water. Then use the dropper to place small drops of the colored water onto the page protector.
Now, grab a chopstick and gently drag the drops of colored water to the correct color of the flower to complete the activity! Wipe clean using a dry paper towel, add a little oil again and some more colorful drops, and you can play again and again!
What are the benefits of color matching activities?
Color matching activity printables, like this one, have so many different benefits! It helps kids with color recognition, is great for cognitive development and is great for developing memory skills too. There are many different types of color matching activities. Some using clothespins, magnets, popsicle sticks, color cards and so much more. But this cool activity is really intriguing!
Pro Tips for the Most Fun!!
- Lay down some brown kraft paper or a plastic table cloth to protect your activity play surface from spills and food dye. You can also place this entire activity in a cookie sheet for extra spill protection!
- Don’t have a plastic sleeve cover? You can laminate each sheet instead. The plastic lamination will work just the same way!
- To secure this page so that it won’t move, use some velcro dot stickers on your work surface. The velcro dots will keep the page from shifting around while your kiddos drag the water droplets.
This color matching activity for toddlers is an absolute blast! Just print the free template and grab the rest of the items, then get to having some color matching fun.
More Colorful Fun Activities!
- Print out as many of these Summer Color by Number pages as you want. They’re so much fun and create the prettiest pictures!
- Color in these photos with a beautiful rainbow pattern background. Groundhog Day Color by Number is a bunch of colorful fun!
- I have so many bundles of coloring printables. These Easter Placemats with Coloring and Activities are the perfect dinner table entertainment.
- Grab these Winter Coloring Pages to entertain those kiddos during Christmas break!
Color Matching Activity
Ingredients
- Printable activity page
- Clear page protector
- Food coloring
- Chopsticks
- Oil olive, vegetable, sunflower…etc.
- Jars or little bowls filled with 1-2 ounces of water
- Paper towel
- Dropper
Instructions
- Insert printable activity page into your page protector and lay it flat on the table.
- Add about ½ teaspoon of oil to the top of your page protector and spread it evenly over the top side using a paper towel. Aim for a thin, even layer so that the water drops will glide smoothly on top of the oil.
- Put 2 drops of food coloring in each jar and give them a gentle swirl/stir to mix evenly throughout the water.
- Use a dropper to place small drops of the colored water onto the page protector.
- Time to play! Use a chopstick to drag the drops of colored water to complete the activity! Wipe clean using a dry paper towel, add a little oil and some more colorful drops to play again and again!
