Color Tablets
Materials:
First Color Tablet Box:
A box with a lid containing 3 pairs of “the most sharply contrasting colors”: red, blue, yellow.
Second Color Tablet Box:
A box with a lid containing 11 pairs of tablets: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, black, white, gray, brown, and pink.
Third Color Tablet Box:
A box with a lid, divided into 9 compartments containing 7 graded shades of color tablets. The colors are red, blue, yellow, green, purple, gray, brown, orange, and pink.
A table for Color Box 1.
A neutral colored rug is used with Color Box 2 and Color Box 3.
Purposes:
To give the keys to the world of color.
Development of the chromatic sense.
Age: Box 1 & 2: 3 – 3 ½
Box 3: 3 ½ - 4
Preparation:
No preparation for Box 1.
Preparation for Box 2 and Box 3 is experience with the the box prior.
Presentation:
Box 1:
Invite the child for a lesson on the Color Tablets.
Show them how to carry the box, return it to the shelf, and invite them to carry it to a table.
Open the box and remove a tablet by the white end.
Indicate to the child that we only handle the tablets from the white ends.
Silently set the tablets on the right side of the table in random order.
Close the box and place it at the top right of the table.
Select a color and place it on the left side of the table, oriented vertically (white ends are at the top and the bottom).
Emphasize “the looking” for its match.
Pair the like colors together side by side.
Select the next tablet and place it beneath the first pair.
Locate the match and pair.
Repeat for the third pair.
Mix the tablets on the right side of the table, invite the child to pair them, and encourage repetition.
Fade and observe.
Box 2:
Invite the child for a lesson on Color Box 2.
Have the child get a rug and unroll it vertically on the floor.
Show them how to carry the box and have them take it to the rug.
Sit at the short end of the rug with the child to your left.
Take out the pairs of primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and mix them at random on the right side of the rug.
Close the box, keep it by you.
Ask the child to pair them at the top left side of the rug, one pair below the next just like in Color Box 1.
When the child finishes pairing the primary colors, open the box and remove the secondary colors (green, orange, and purple) placing them at random on the right side, and close the box.
Demonstrate pairing the new colors continuing down the edge of the rug.
When they are paired, mix the three new colors on the right side of the rug and invite the child to pair them.
When the child finishes, open the box, remove brown, gray, and pink and place them at random on the right side of the rug, and close the box.
Repeat the process of pairing, mixing, and inviting the child.
Remove the black and white, place it on the right side of the rug, and close the box.
Repeat the process of pairing, mixing, and inviting the child.
After the child pairs the last two, ask them to help you mix all the tablets on the right side of the rug.
Invite the child to pair all the tablets in whatever order they like. Encourage repetition.
Fade and observe.
When the child is finished, return, and show them how to put the tablets in the box in random order.
Control of Error:
The child’s own judgment/visual discrimination of disharmony
When the last color tablet does not have a match.
Language:
The names of the colors are given in a three-period lesson after the child can pair Box 2 without hesitation.
Following Exercises:
Memory Games:
Distance Games: One set of tablets is on one rug and the other set is on a rug across the room. The child will pair them on one rug while remembering the color they need to retrieve from the other.
Comparing to the Environment: The child uses a memory marker beside a tablet and tries to find objects of the same color in the environment to bring back to the rug.
Box 3:
Invite the child for a lesson on Color Box 3.
Have the child get a rug and unroll it on the floor horizontally.
Show them how to carry the box and have them take it to the rug.
Select a color and remove all the tablets of that color.
Close and move the box to the upper right corner of the rug.
Set the darkest tablet in front of the child, tablet oriented vertically.
Set the next lightest beside it to the right.
Continue to the right until you get to the lightest of the gradation.
Mix the tablets and invite the child to grade them.
If they can grade the tablets without difficulty, offer another color to grade below the first set.
Allow the child to continue.
Fade and observe.
Return to reinforce that each color is placed at random within its compartment.
NOTE: If the child is unable to grade them, stop with just this one color and do not move on to other colors. Re-present with one color until the child can discriminate the differences in the tablets. If they continue to be unable to grade them, offer the darkest #1, the lightest #7, and the shade in the middle #4.
Control of Error:
The child’s own judgment/visual discrimination of disharmony
Language:
Introduce light_____ /dark________ before comparatives: darker than/lighter than & Superlatives darkest _____/lightest _______.
Following Exercises:
2 colors at a time, mixed. The child will sort and grade for each.
3 colors at a time, mixed. The child will sort and grade for each.
Work with all the tablets, mixed to sort and grade. This may require two rugs.
Sunburst-use a plate or globe in the middle of the rug. The rays are the gradations darkest to lightest.
Memory Games:
Distance Game: The child builds the gradation in a different location from where the tablets are set out.
Comparative Language Game: (“Bring me a tablet that is darker than this one.”)
Material to the Environment: The child uses a memory marker beside a tablet and tries to find objects of the exact same tint in the environment to bring back to the rug.
Group Game: Up to 7 children, each having a tint from the gradation, as they work as a group to order the tablets by deciding if their individual tablet is next to be placed.
Pedagogical Notes:
This work helps the child refine his understanding of color and to classify the category they already have created for color.
You may see children unable to pair gray and pink or green and red. This could be a sign of color blindness and would be a good observation to share with parents. Be sure to have written documentation by date and instance.
We hold by the ends because they were originally wound with silk thread. (Below is an image of a 100-year-old box of color tablets made with wound silk thread) Although now they are plastic/wood, holding the ends keeps the colors from becoming dull and dirty.
Rule of Boxes: Set the open box on the lid to keep it out of the way. The closed box should be moved to the upper right corner of the table during presentations.
Create a dish of memory markers for the child to use in the distance games. They can be shells, rocks, and/or buttons.
Do not correct. Just keep representing and allow the material to be the correction for the child.