I’ve been trying not to buy Color Box 3 for ages. I think the layout is SO PRETTY. But since I couldn’t justify it, I made a DIY version with paint samples from Walmart. I’m not into taking big piles of free stuff from stores, but this time I made an exception, as I will likely laminate and maintain this collection, using it to choose paint over the next hundred years.
I found that the biggest time investment is FINDING the shades in order. It was a workout for my eyes! I don’t like the one that I can’t cut off the name of the shade without making my card tiny, so I had to hand pick the colors individually. (I think these are Better Homes and Gardens) Then I went home and lopped off the name.
I think I have EIGHT of each color blue, red, yellow, green, orange, purple. I have the browns and black but they don’t have a place on my color wheel, so we put them to the side.
Since my kids are older, we mix all the cards. They sort by color and then shade.
First we lay out the primary colors.
Then we add the secondary colors.
Full disclosure, my kids don’t LOVE this activity like I do. But after performing it a few times, I found them lining up all their markers, pencils, and crayons by color and shade and sorting them into containers.