10 Creative Activities and Games for Teaching Colours to ESL Students

01.05.2026

6 minutes

Vocabulary
Activities

Why Teaching Colours to ESL Learners is More Than Just Vocabulary

Colours are not simply about the words. It is not only vocabulary to teach, but also a tool to implement in learning. It is highly likely that ESL learners can remember much more thanks to colours. How? Here’s the answer — colours have an emotional impact on us and represent some emotions.

Even though the representation of colours can change with years because of the language and culture, the research proves that languages, colours and learners’ perception are intertwined.

So, how do colours stand out?

Apparently, warm colours, particularly red, may be remembered better than cool tones such as blue. Nevertheless, the contrast between colours significantly affects memory performance and concentration.

We start to distinguish between sad and happy colours. We associate certain hues, like the warm colours of fall, with cosy sweaters and a pumpkin pie; colours of spring with tree blossom and greens.

Overall, this is how the colours are perceived:

Green: harmony, connection to nature and growth
Purple: something royal and unique, spiritual, calm
Yellow: positivity, enthusiasm, happiness, positive mindset and making the most of the life
Pink: fresh, quite feminine, playful, young
Blue: calmness, soberness and demureness, determination and professionalism
Orange: optimism, friendliness, satiation
Red: passion, burning desire, and love; haste and some danger

The psychology of colours is closely related to sensory development and associative thinking. Knowing how to operate this information, the teacher can benefit from the lesson as a whole as the colours definitely influence ESL students and people in general.

Hence, using red or orange to highlight critical information, such as main ideas or important vocabulary, can effectively draw attention and boost memory retention. These warm colours are also excellent during brainstorming sessions or discussions.

In contrast, blue with its hues creates a calm atmosphere which is ideal for reflective tasks like reading or writing. This helps students focus better. Dark blue, however, signals importance, making it perfect for introducing complex concepts or advanced topics.

Adding yellow colours can encourage students and draw their attention to important things, as well. It can serve as a certain energiser.

Low-Prep Games to Teach Colours in the Classroom

There is a wide range of activities to use in the classroom, even though they don’t require any preparation.

Colour I Spy

This is a guessing game based on colours. One student says: “I spy something blue.” Other students guess objects in the classroom: “Is it a board? Is it your pen?”

Then, the student answers: “Yes, it is” or “No, it isn’t” and the game continues until someone guesses the object. After that, another student takes a turn.

This is a good game to practise colours, question formation and object description.

The M&M’s or Skittles Challenge

The teacher uses coloured candies, each of them has a task. For instance:

red = say a sentence,
green = name 3 objects,
yellow = ask a question.

Students take one candy and complete the task based on its colour.

This is a good game to practise speaking, make it more fun and develop creative thinking.

Colour Corners

The teacher chooses 4-5 colours and assigns each colour to a corner of the classroom and says a colour: “Blue!” Students move to the correct corner.

To make it more advanced, the teacher can say a sentence: “I am wearing blue.” Students go to that corner only if it is true for them. It makes them think and analyse more.

This is a good game to practise colour perception, listening and fast reactions.

Interactive Activities for Teaching Colours

Interactive activities are essential for helping learners acquire colour vocabulary in an engaging and memorable way.

In comparison to passive methods such as repetition or translation, these activities encourage students to actively participate, move, speak, and make decisions. This increases their motivation and improves retention, especially it’s great for younger learners and lower levels.

One of the key advantages of interactive colour-based tasks is that they connect language with the real world. When students identify colours in their environment, respond physically, or use digital tools, they create meaningful associations that support long-term learning.

Such activities as games, movement-based tasks, and collaborative challenges also cater to different learning styles, including visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic, which empowers learners so much.

In addition, interactive activities naturally promote communication. Even simple colour tasks can be expanded to include full sentences, questions, and descriptions, allowing learners to practise speaking in context.

For example, instead of naming a colour, students can describe objects, express preferences, or justify their choices.

Using tools

Talking about tools to use, one can choose from what they really prefer. Nowadays, there are various apps and sites to implement into the lessons and use as helpful tools.

In terms of learning colours, some of them are:

Wordwall

This tool is highly effective for reinforcing colour recognition and form-meaning connection. Through matching tasks, learners repeatedly associate colour words with visual input.

Activities such as spinning wheels and quizzes also support quick recall and help to automatise basic colour vocabulary.

Example: students match “red” with pictures (apple, tomato, etc.) or answer: “What colour is it?”

Baamboozle

This is a team-based game platform with ready-made or custom quizzes, which promotes active recall and spoken production of colour vocabulary.

As students respond to prompts, they move beyond recognition to using colours in sentences and short descriptions.

Example: students choose a number and answer a task like: “Name 3 green things” or “Make a sentence with ‘blue’.”

Miro

This is a digital board for collaborative tasks. Students have access to the board, can do exercises immediately there.

For example: group objects by colour or create shared boards, drag and drop pictures into colour groups or create a shared “colour board” with objects.

Kahoot!

This is a competitive quiz tool with live participation whose core task is to learn quickly. Learners must quickly identify and select the correct colour, which improves processing speed and reinforces vocabulary under time pressure.

Example: students choose the correct colour based on pictures or descriptions.

There are also some other games presented below.

Colour Hunt

This is one more simple, interactive classroom activity which doesn't require any apps or platforms to use, only real interaction.

In this activity, the teacher gives students a colour prompt, such as “Find something blue” or “Find three red objects.” Students then move around the classroom (or home, in online learning) to locate items that match the target colour. They may point to objects, bring them to the teacher, or describe them using sentences such as “This is green” or “It is a yellow pencil.”

The activity can be easily adapted for different levels. For beginners, students simply identify and name colours. For higher levels, the teacher can add complexity by including shades (light blue, dark green), adjectives, or full descriptive sentences.

Colour hunt is effective because it combines physical movement, visual perception, and language use. It increases engagement, helps learners connect vocabulary to real objects, and supports memory through meaningful context.

Creative Arts and Crafts for Colour Recognition

Creative arts and crafts activities are an effective way to teach colour vocabulary because they combine language learning with hands-on, visual experience. When learners create something on their own, they process colours more deeply and remember them more easily than through simple repetition.

What's included in these activities?

It is usually about painting, drawing, cutting, gluing, or mixing materials, which allows learners to interact with colours in a meaningful context, especially it's entertaining for young ones. For example, when students paint objects or design pictures, they naturally practise identifying and naming colours in a real communicative situation.

One of the main benefits of arts and crafts is that they support experiential learning. Students do not only see colours but also manipulate them: mixing and exploring. This helps them to understand how colours work together and strengthens cognitive connections between vocabulary and visual perception.

What's more, such activities encourage creativity and personal expression. Each student produces a unique result, which creates opportunities for speaking tasks such as describing their work, comparing pictures, or explaining colour choices. This turns a creative task into a communicative one.\

Overall, arts and crafts make colour learning more memorable and meaningful.

Сolour Mixing Experiments

This is an activity that helps learners understand how colours combine to form new ones, especially secondary colours such as green, orange or purple. In this activity, students physically mix paints, coloured water to observe the results of combining primary colours.

For example, learners explore simple combinations such as:

blue + yellow = green
red + yellow = orange
red + blue = purple

Before mixing, the teacher can ask students to predict the result: “What do you think will happen if we mix blue and yellow?” This encourages their active thinking. After the experiment, students describe the outcome using full sentences, such as “Blue and yellow make green.”

As a result, students learn new colours, their experience with exploring it on their own will help them to remember better and much easier. Kinaesthetic learning will come in handy to form new connections alongside.

DIY Colour Wheels

DIY colour wheels are a creative craft activity where students organise colours into a circular diagram to show relationships between primary and secondary colours. Learners divide a circle into sections and fill them with colours in a logical order.

This activity helps students visually understand how colours are connected. Moreover, it reinforces vocabulary such as primary colours, secondary colours, light, and dark shades. Students can also label each section or add examples of real-life objects for each colour.

For higher-level learners, the task can be extended by asking them to describe their colour wheel or explain their choices.

DIY colour wheels combine visual learning and language practice with creativity, making them a highly effective tool for colour recognition.

Tips for Success in Teaching Colours

True though it may be, learning process isn’t easy. Talking about young learners, it is a core basis to start with.

And, of course, there are some tips for success, as with any topic to learn.

Super Simple Songs

Usage of Super Simple Songs may come in handy as it’s easy to remember colour vocabulary through melody and rhyme. It just stays in mind, subconsciously.

Flashcards

Another important tool is flashcards.

They provide clear visual support and are ideal for introducing, practising, and revising colour vocabulary. Teachers can use flashcards for quick recognition tasks, memory games, or matching activities, helping students to connect the written word with the visual colour.

Thanks to its format, this is great for both individual and group learning.

Realia

Using real objects or so-called “realia” is also highly effective. When students see colours in real-life items such as classroom objects, clothes, food, nature, etc., they develop stronger associations between language and the real world. This approach makes vocabulary more meaningful and easier to remember.

In conclusion, any step which is important but difficult can be simplified thanks to the teacher’s experience, games and tips, and methodology.

Learning colours isn’t an exception. This is highly beneficial because it’s a starting point that combines mental development, growth, change of mindset and learning skills practice.

Teachers who wish to further develop their skills in this area can explore courses from Grade University to gain deeper insight into effective ESL teaching strategies.