Suns are easy for preschoolers to create, since their round shapes are fairly simple to cut out. Children can cut suns out of yellow paper and glue them onto blue paper to create a sky scene, or turn paper plates into suns. Each child must first paint or color a plate yellow, then cut small triangles out of yellow paper to glue or tape around the edges of the plate. Once children have finished creating suns, tape them to the ceiling or the windows of the classroom.
Teach children about all the different shades of yellow by looking at paintings of sunflowers. Show them Vincent van Gogh's paintings of sunflowers and ask children to point out areas of light yellow, medium yellow and dark yellow. Pass out sheets of yellow tissue paper in a variety of shades. Let children experiment with layering pieces together to create different shades. Once children are satisfied with their layers, help them twist the centers of the paper together to create flower shapes. Tape or glue on green pipe cleaners to create stems.
One way to test children about their knowledge of colors is to ask them to pick a certain color out of a crowd. Make sure children can identify yellow by asking children to make yellow collages. Pass out magazines and ask children to cut out any pictures or letters that are yellow, then glue these images together into collages. For a three-dimensional collage project, you may also set out yellow art materials for children to use. Fill bowls with yellow feathers, beads and scraps of tissue paper.
Preschoolers may be able to label the colors of the rainbow, but they probably won't know how colors are formed. Use yellow as an introduction to primary and secondary colors. Give each child a bowl of yellow paint and small bowls filled with other paints. Invite children to mix a bit of yellow paint into each bowl to see if new colors are formed. For instance, when they mix yellow with blue they'll create green paint. You may also do this experiment with food coloring mixed into water. When children have finished mixing all their paints, hand out paper so they can create pictures with their personalized shades.