At first glance, you might overlook Color by Number activities for your students.
It can be a struggle to find age appropriate tasks for our middle school and high school students. We want them to be engaged in their learning while enjoying the content of the lessons we teach.
Accessibility is vitally important, with differentiated instruction being a top priority for planning.
Color By Number Activities as Screen Breaks
The use of technology in classrooms is a wonderful thing. It can provide teachers with many helpful resources. For students, it means they are learning skills they will need beyond school.
However, it’s also really important that students are able to have time away from screens. With the increase of technology in our classrooms, we need to consider calming activities that are screen breaks for our students too. Color by Number activities can be used for that purpose!
It is important to incorporate mindful tasks that are engaging for our students while providing a sense of relaxation and calm.
As a High School Special Education teacher, I need the core content to be accessible for all my students. Whether I’m planning lessons for Social Studies or another subject, I want my students to engage with my lessons and enjoy the learning process.
And one of the tasks I come back to time and time again is Color by Number activities.
Color By Number Activities for All Students
I want to share a free activity with you, but first I would love to tell you more about the benefits of mindful coloring and Color by Number activities.
In a lot of ways, schools have become such hectic places. So much is expected from our students! Whether it be the various subjects they study or the extra-curricular activities that they partake in, they’re always so busy. Sometimes as teachers we can forget that students need downtime. This is especially the case for our students receiving special education services.
Additionally, our English Language Learners need to take a moment to breathe! The constant input of hearing and processing spoken English all day can be exhausting.
For our ELL and special education students Color by Number tasks are perfect activities to complement other content heavy work.
Color By Number Activities as Test Review
Let’s say that your students have been working towards a test or quiz. Prior to the assessment you may allocate a study period dedicated to reviewing the material. Perhaps you pose questions to the students verbally and have them answer aloud. This could be as a whole class or in small groups. Following this review, a great task can be a Color by Number activity.
Encourage your students to think over the materials you have just covered as they complete the coloring task. Oftentimes we bombard students with heavy content without giving them a moment to relax and absorb what they have learned.
And of course, all students can benefit from mindful tasks such as Color by Number. In schools around the world, the social and emotional aspects of learning are being explicitly taught to students so that they can think about how they learn best.
I would love to share a freebie with you! Here you can find my Color by Number US History printable. Your students can enjoy coloring a picture of Abraham Lincoln during your American History classes. You can watch a short video clip of it here.
There are also questions to answer about the President. It’s a no-prep activity for you to download here for FREE.
So, what do you think? Have you used Color by Number or Mindful Coloring tasks with your Middle School and High School students? I would love to hear from you on my social media or by commenting on this post!
Planning for US History
Do you want a free scope and sequence to help you plan your US History class? Click here to see more!
