Exploring The Science of Colours

Has your child ever asked why there are seven colours in a rainbow? Or wondered why some animals in the wild are so loud and colourful while others tend to blend into its surroundings? Perhaps your older kids may have asked what does the term "RGB" mean in technology talk.

This may be a fine time to take a deeper look at the science of colours and how things around us come to be so wonderfully colourful.

Printable & Activity Objectives

In this activity, your child will learn the basic concepts of how humans perceive colours, the purpose of colours in nature and how technology has enhanced the use of colours in our everyday life.

It will help your child or student:

• Develop a better understanding and more importantly, a deeper curiosity about the biological and natural occurrence of colour.
• Connect the technology of everyday devices with human colour perception.

Let's dig into what makes this world so colourful!

Classroom Resources

Simple steps to start:

• Read the 2 page "Living in Full Colour" comic. Discuss the concept of how sunlight is actually made out of seven different colours.
• Do some simple research about light and colour perception and the human eye. The below is easy and short video explaining this concept.

• Read the "Purpose of Colours in the Wild" document. Ask your child to think about other examples for each of the categories mentioned.
• Read the "A Colourful Meal is A Healthy Meal" document. Discuss the importance of eating a balanced diet with naturally colourful ingredients. Get them to think about and list down the colours in their recent meals. Watch the fun (but slightly repetitive) music video about the benefits of eating the "rainbow of foods".

• Read the "How to Make Natural Food Colouring" document. Discuss and ask them to distinguish between foods they think have natural colouring versus those that use artificial ones. Watch the video below to get ideas on how to make plant-based natural food dye at home with your child.

• Read the "Electronic Visual Display" document. Discuss why computer monitor and colours of the pixels relates to how our eyes perceive colours (based on the video above). Hint: RGB!

Below are a few extra ideas for your child to improve this activity:

• If you have an opportunity, watch the video below to show how technology can help a visually colour-impaired person to recognise colour using sound cues. This is another example of we can leverage on technologies to heighten or open up our perception of colours.

• Get your child to be more observant about the different colours in his or her surroundings and think about what has been discussed.

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What's in the Printable Pack

This digital pack has 14 pages and consists of comics, STEAM content and related printables and worksheets. The content provides a simple introduction to basic science concepts about colours in nature and in technology. We hope it will help to inspire a deeper interest in this topic.

What's included:

• 2 pages of comics about the rainbow and the different colours of light.
• 2 pages of STEM content about the purpose of colours in the wild.
• 2 pages of STEM content on the colours of our food and how it impacts our health.
• 1 page of STEM content about how computer monitors project different colours.
• 7 fun colour related printable worksheet activities.

Click on the download link below to get started. Please note that this printable pack is only for subscribers and paid members.