“The Seasons – Warm and Cool Colors”
Kindergarten – History/Social Science and Visual Arts
Background Information:
Another way to categorize color is by dividing colors into warm or cool. Colors are
divided into the warm/cool categories depending on how much red or blue they contain.
In general, colors from yellow to red-violet on the color wheel are considered warm
colors. They remind us of warm seasons. Fire and sunlight and are often perceived as
advancing or coming toward the viewer when used in paintings. Cool colors range from
yellow-green to violet on the color wheel. They remind us of cool seasons and the sea
and sky, and seem to recede, or fall back, when used in a painting. A collage consists of
fragments of things pasted on a flat surface. The artist may use photographs, colored
paper, pieces of material, news clippings, and other odds and ends. In addition, strokes of
paint, charcoal smears, or anything, as long as it is basically flat, may be combined with
the above. Collage is a French word meaning pasting paper. The first known use of this
technique was by Japanese calligraphers in the twelfth century. They copied poems onto
sheets covered with pasted pieces of softly tinted paper. The elegant compositions were
then sprinkled with tiny shapes cut from gold and silver paper. Cutting and pasting was
used artistically by western Europeans in the seventeenth century to assemble and
illustrate beautiful family albums. By the middle of the eighteenth century, English
speaking countries applied the technique to valentines. In the fine arts, collage first
appeared in the Cubist paintings. Cubism was an early twentieth-century artistic style
based on the experiments of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Picasso indicated in later
years that the purpose of these early collages was to introduce different textures into
compositions and to blur the line between the artworks and reality.
History/Social Science Content Standards:
Kindergarten – Learning and Working Now and Long Ago
K.5 Students put events in temporal order using a calendar, placing days, weeks,
and months in proper order.
Visual and Performing Arts Standards
Visual Arts 1.0 – Artistic Perception
Students perceive and respond to works of art, objects in nature, events, and the
environment. They also use the vocabulary of the visual arts to express their
observations.
1.2 Name art materials (e.g., clay, paint, and crayons) introduced in lessons.
1.3 Identify the elements of art (line, color, shape/form, texture, value, space) in
the works of art, emphasizing line, color, and shape/form.
1/5/09
1
Visual Arts 2.0 – Creative Expression
Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to
communicate meaning and intent in original works of art.
2.2 Demonstrate beginning skill in the use of tools and processes, such as the use
of scissors, glue, and paper in creating a three-dimensional construction.
2.3 Make a collage with cut or torn paper shapes/forms.
Visual Arts 4.0 – Aesthetic Valuing
Students analyze, assess, and derive meaning from works of art, including their
own, according to the elements of art, the principles of design, and aesthetic qualities.
4.1 Discuss their own works of art, using appropriate art vocabulary (e.g. color,
shape/form, texture).
Learning Objectives:


Students will identify warm and cool colors and demonstrate this by self selecting
pictures that represent seasons, and corresponding background color.
Students will understand what a collage is and demonstrate this by creating a
collage.
Vocabulary:
pattern
warm colors
cool colors
collage
Materials:
art prints
scissors
glue/glue sticks
color wheel
9 x 12 color construction paper
pre-cut shapes of symbols of seasons
Motivation:
Students in kindergarten are introduced to basic spatial, temporal, and causal
relationships, emphasizing the geographic and historical connections between the world
today and the world long ago. The stories of ordinary and extraordinary people help
describe the range and continuity of human experience and introduce the concepts of
courage, self-control, justice, heroism, leadership, deliberation, and individual
responsibility. Historical empathy for how people lived and worked long ago reinforces
1/5/09
2
the concept of civic behavior: how we interact respectfully with each other, following
rules, and respecting the rights of others.
Visual Arts Content Lesson:
1. Display prints representing different seasons. Have students identify the
different seasons and explain why they think it represents the selected season.
Ask what types of colors are used in the paintings to represent different
seasons. (big book – Unit 5, Lesson 3, page 63, teacher edition, pages 313315; TIME for Kids Readers – “What’s the Season”)
2. “What colors remind you of the word warm?” (yellow, red, orange)
“Why?”(represent the sun, fire, peppers, etc.) “What colors remind you of the
word cool?”(blue, green, purple) “Why?” (represent water, ice, grass, grape
popsicle, etc) “Today we’re going to create art that has cool colors and warm
colors.”
3. “There are three cool colors and three warm colors. What are the three cool
colors?” (blue, green, and purple) “What are the three warm colors?” (red,
orange, and yellow)
4.
“Think about what colors you would see for the different seasons. Is winter
cool or warm? Is summer cool or warm? How about fall and spring?” (direct
student answers)
5. “Today we are going to create collages that represent the seasons. This
collage will be made by gluing shapes that symbolize the seasons ”
6. “Choose the paper that the shapes you chose are going to be glued onto by
thinking about the season the collage is representing. If you are doing a
collage about spring, would you choose a warm color background, or a cool
color background? (warm color)
7. Have students pick out a background according to the season they want to
represent. Hand out scissors and glue. Have students begin to cut and glue.
Procedure:
1. Displayed art prints will coordinate with different seasons. Class
discussion will center on what students see in the art, especially in
regard to colors.
2. Define warm colors and cool colors and their relationship to seasons.
3. Discuss the steps to create a collage and what their collage will
represent.
1/5/09
3
4. Demonstrate what shapes represent certain seasons.
5. Have students select a background color that supports the season they
want to represent.
6. Remind students to fill the entire background space with shapes of the
season.
7. Have students explain their choice of pictures and how they represent
a specific season.
Assessment and/or Evaluation:
What do we want students to know?


Students will know warm and cool colors and demonstrate this by explaining how
the colors are represented in different artworks and their own art.
Students will improve their artistic motor skills and demonstrate this by gluing
shapes onto a surface.
Extensions:
1. Have students create an original collage that incorporates the season which
contains their birthday.
1/5/09
4