What happened when children linked colours with emotions. By Annette Rawstrone
Experimenting with paint in the playground
Experimenting with paint in the playground

What colour is happy?’ was the question posed to nursery children as they started a new school year at St Katherine’s School and Nursery in Snodland, Kent. The enquiry was aimed to intrigue children and enable practitioners to follow children’s interests, help new children to settle in and lead to conversations about emotions to support well-being.

The nursery takes children from three years old, so while some were returning after the summer break, others were being welcomed into the setting for the first time.

‘We wanted the children to form strong relationships with their peers and adults too. We thought that explorations around colour would be something that everyone could talk about and enable them to talk about themselves and their favourite things. Colour can also lead to talking about emotions,’ says nursery teacher Stacey Hyland.

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