When it comes to boosting memory, fostering engagement, and improving learning for your students, an often overlooked method is classroom colors. Yes, you can generate these results by simply making small color changes in your class. But the key is in being smart about it. There should be a balance behind this colorful endeavor. After all, there is such a thing as being over-stimulated, which will lead to subpar learning. Luckily, you’ll learn all about the best colors to use (and when) in this blog post.
The Basics Of How Classroom Colors Works
To put it simply, each color tends to have an effect on your mood. For example, blue tends to have a calming effect on a person. It’s known for improving well-being and is a color easily found in nature, such as the ocean and sky. Red, on the other hand, can generate an alert feeling that grabs attention. This may explain its usage in stop signs, as we definitely want to pay attention to those for safety reasons.
But that’s just a taste of how classroom color can affect learning. Read on to see the top 5 colors to consider for your classroom use.
5 Ways To Use Classroom Colors For More Effective Learning
#1 Yellow For Attention And Positivity
Yellow is amazing for grabbing attention. As such, you should focus on using yellow for things that are important and should be given more focus. Consider using yellow anytime you’ve got sensitive data to share with your class. For example, you can print out crucial information on yellow paper and distribute that to your class. So long as you don’t print everything out on yellow, the effects of this color will be magnified. And every time they get a new piece of yellow paper, they’ll instantly recognize the information needs to be carefully looked over.
#2 Orange For Mood And Positive Energy
Surprisingly, the color orange has been shown to improve both memory and critical thinking (Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences Education, 2011). It actually improves oxygen supply to the brain and can help students move past upsetting events more quickly. You’ll get a lot of mileage out of this color if you can connect it to particularly difficult tasks or projects in your classroom.
#3 Red For Energy And Creativity
You should use red for two purposes in particular – detailed work and creative work. Since red generates more energy, detail-oriented tasks won’t feel as tedious with red supporting their mood and psychology. So this would be good for something like math. It also pairs well with creative work as well, as red is a stimulating color that could help push them outside their regular thinking patterns. So if you have an art & crafts area, consider splashing plenty of red in that area for best results.
#4 Green For Calmness And Concentration
You’ll want to use green whenever there’s long stretches of “busy” work to be done (as in not too hard and not too simple). And since it’s so easy on the eyes, it’ll go a long way towards helping students get some reprieve from intense work by looking at something green. An easy way to add this in is by using plants in your classroom. All they’ve got to do is look from their work and stare at the plants for a few moments. This will not only give their eyes a break but will likely promote feelings of calmness as well.
#5 Blue For Relaxed Productivity
This is similar to green but has a stronger effect on harder, more intellectual work. So try to incorporate blue any time you require higher-order and deeper thinking in your classroom. And it’s actually pretty simple to do this. In fact, just adding strips of blue tape to a desk may be enough to get the benefits of this color. Blue has also been shown to encourage well-being, so having plenty sources of blue in your classroom is a great idea all around.
Use Classroom Colors For Productivity And Creativity
Color can be a fun way to enhance the classroom experience by improving mood and learning. So next time you get a chance, add a splash of classroom color to the mix and you may be pleasantly surprised by the results.
And if you’re looking for another way to improve mood as well, you’d do well to incorporate something like KeyboardingOnline into your class. After all, typing skills are an essential skill and if your class has ability in it, they’ll enjoy your class that much more.