Virtual Family Day: Colors

Create and discover with your family! Activities are designed for all ages.

A child looks at a colorful abstract painting by Alfred Skondovitch. UAMN image by Gail Priday.

From colorful aurora lights to iridescent feathers and vibrant dyes made from plants,
explore the diverse roles colors play in our world.

Activities To Do At Home:

The links are all PDF documents.

Make a Rainbow: Investigate how to separate white light into different colors.
Colorful Aurora Art: Create your own artwork inspired by the northern lights. Watch a how-to video!
Paint the Sunrise: Explore and paint the sunrise with pastel colors. Watch a video about the colors of the sky!
Design a Grass Basket: Paint a basket design inspired by natural plant dyes.

Colorful Paper Chromatography: Discover how scientists use color to study materials.
Make a Butterfly Suncatcher: Explore butterfly colors by making a suncatcher. Watch a video about colors, science, and art!
Create Iridescent Art: Make a colorful iridescent bookmark using nail polish and water.

Chalk drawing of colorful aurora lights. Drawing of coiled grass basket, painted with colorful watercolor paints. Butterfly-shaped suncatcher made with tissue paper pieces, with sunlight shining through.

Left to Right: Colorful Aurora Art, Design a Grass Basket, and Butterfly Suncatcher.

Videos:

Colors, Science, and Art Discussion

Watch a conversation about colors, science, and art with Laura Conner (Research Associate Professor of Science Education) and Mareca Guthrie (Curator of Fine Arts).

Learn more about Colors of Nature and Fostering STEAM.

Watch a playlist of videos about colors! Courtesy of Mareca Guthrie.

Colorful Aurora Art

Watch a video showing how to create your own artwork inspired by the northern lights!

For activities designed for kids ages 5 and under, go to our Virtual Early Explorers page.

For activities designed for kids ages 6-12, go to our Virtual Junior Curators page.

Return to the Family Days page.

Museum Family Days are proudly presented by TOTE. THANK YOU!

UAMN is a proud partner of the National Informal STEM Education Network and member of the NASA Space Science Education Consortium.

This project was funded under NASA cooperative agreement NNX16AL65A. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Museum of the North