Brown Bear Color Words Activity
Inside: a free printable color words activity to use after reading the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Use these clip cards as part of your kindergarten color word reading lessons.
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I never get tired of reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle — even though I’ve read it a gazillion times! I really enjoy the symmetry and rhythm of the story. Plus, it’s such a fun way to teach little kids about color words.
Color Words Activity
This color words activity is for students who are ready to practice reading color words (not just naming the colors). However, if you have a few students who aren’t quite ready to read, you can differentiate for them (see below).
RELATED: If you’re working in color words, you might also like to check out one of our favorite children’s books about colors!
Preparation and Materials
Grab your printable clip cards from the form at the bottom of this post. Then, either print them on cardstock, or print on regular paper and laminate. Next, cut apart the cards (they print 4 per page).
The only other thing you’ll need is a set of colored clothespins – you can buy them ready-made (ad), or just quickly paint your own plain ones with acrylic paint.
Once you have the materials ready, you can set up the activity for the children to explore. You may want to put the clothespins in a small basket or box.
Get Started
Begin by reading the book aloud. On the first reading, here are a few questions you can ask your little learners:
- Is that a silly color for this animal? Or is it realistic?
- What is the same on each of these pages? (Answer: they all are about animals and colors.)
- How are we (teacher and students) similar to the last two-page spreads of the book?
How to Play
Start this color words activity with some guided practice. For the cards with animals, ask students to name the animal and identify its color. For the cards with easels, ask the children to identify the paint color and name something that is that color, either in the book or in real life.
Then, ask them to select the matching color clothespin.
Next, have children attempt to read all the options on the right side to identify the correct color word.
Finally, students will clip the clothespin to the matching color word.
Once you are sure they know what to do, release your children for independent practice with these materials. Supervise and check that they have matched words and colors correctly.
Differentiation and Enrichment
For younger students and emergent readers, you can point to and read each of the words for them. Ask students which word is associated with the color of the image, and then they can clip the correct option.
If you’re looking to challenge students further, you can ask them to write the name of the color on a separate paper using that specific colored crayon, e.g. write the word brown with a brown crayon when looking at the brown bear.
Another way to enrich the activity is to have your little learners match the cards to the corresponding pages in the book. They can work through the book and search for the matching card, or vice versa.
Benefits of Clip Cards
Clipping on the correct colored clothespin will allow children to make better connections between each of the colors and the color words.
This activity also helps strengthen children’s hand-eye coordination and improves the accuracy of movement between the thumb and the index finger as students open and close the clothespins.
You can even use clip cards as an observation and formative assessment tool to see what level children are at and identify specific color words that they might have difficulty reading.
Children learn best when they are involved and given a chance to practice skills. This is a straightforward activity that students can do over and over as much as they like.
I hope these quick and easy clip cards are useful to you and your kids!
Sequencing Activity for Brown Bear, Brown Bear book
You may also like my story sequencing hats that go along with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Kids adore these hats, and they are an engaging way to work on retelling and sequencing.
Download the Free Clip Cards
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Happy Teaching!