Using Colors for Different Feelings¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Learners assign colors to emotions and use them deliberately in artwork to express how they feel. The activity builds a personal, stable mapping between visual cues (color) and internal states (feelings), giving learners a concrete vocabulary for emotions that are otherwise hard to name or discuss. It is typically carried out as a facilitated art activity: the facilitator introduces the idea that colors can carry feelings, models an example, and learners create and then share or discuss their work.

Design Implications¶

Pairing emotions with color draws on dual coding — representing a concept in both verbal and visual channels strengthens memory and recognition Media combinations affect recall and retention. [+M]. Color–emotion associations are also culturally patterned and fairly consistent within a culture (e.g., red with anger, blue with sadness), so the mapping is learnable rather than arbitrary [~M]. The strategy works best when the facilitator makes the mapping explicit and learners explain their choices, converting a purely expressive activity into one that also builds emotional vocabulary and awareness.

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Access to art supplies (crayons, markers, paint, paper) or digital drawing tools
• A facilitator who can model the color–emotion mapping and guide discussion respectfully
• A supportive, inclusive environment where learners can opt out of sharing personal feelings
• Time for learners to explain why they chose each color — the explanation, not just the artwork, drives the learning

Constraints¶

• Color–emotion associations vary across cultures and individuals; a fixed teacher-imposed mapping can misrepresent learners' experiences [~M] — let learners negotiate or personalize mappings where possible
• Learners uncomfortable with emotional disclosure may produce superficial work or disengage; participation in sharing should be voluntary
• Color perception differences (e.g., color vision deficiency) can make purely color-based coding inaccessible; pair colors with shapes or labels
• Without a debrief, the activity remains craft time — the emotional learning comes from articulation, not the coloring itself [-W]

Implementation Variability¶

• Personal palettes: each learner develops their own emotion–color key before creating art
• Emotion check-ins: learners color a quick "how I feel today" swatch as a routine warm-up
• Literature integration: learners color-code characters' feelings in a story, connecting the strategy to reading comprehension
• Digital adaptation: drawing apps with unlimited color palettes remove supply constraints and support learners with motor difficulties

Target Learners¶

• Early childhood and elementary students, who often lack the verbal vocabulary to name complex emotions and benefit from a visual channel [+W]
• Learners who are reluctant to speak directly about feelings; the artwork provides an indirect, lower-stakes route to discussion
• Less suitable as-is for older learners who already have fluent emotional vocabulary, unless the color mapping is used as a quick check-in tool rather than a full activity

Target Learning Goals¶

• Emotional awareness and identification: recognizing and naming one's own feelings
• Emotional expression: communicating internal states through a nonverbal medium
• Empathy: interpreting others' color choices builds perspective-taking during share-outs
• Self-regulation: a stable color code gives learners a tool for monitoring and signaling emotional states over time

Instructions¶

1. Introduce the idea with a Demonstration: the facilitator shows a simple artwork and explains which colors they used for which feelings and why.
2. Build a shared or personal color key: as a class or individually, agree on candidate colors for common emotions (happy, sad, angry, calm, excited), acknowledging that associations can differ.
3. Create: learners make an artwork — a feeling portrait, a "color of my day," or an illustration of a story character's emotions — applying their key.
4. Articulate: learners explain their color choices aloud or in writing; use Act It Out or pair-shares to make the emotional reasoning explicit.
5. Practice over time: repeat as a recurring check-in so the color–emotion associations become an automatic self-monitoring tool rather than a one-off activity.

Related Strategies¶

• Feelings Check-In — the color key gives check-ins a concrete, low-verbal format
• Art Journaling — a sustained format in which color-coded emotional expression accumulates over time
• Emotion Vocabulary Building — the color mapping anchors new feeling words to visual referents
• Apply color guidelines for attention, coding and cultural appropriateness in mLearning content

Examples¶

• Zones of Regulation (Kuypers, 2011) — a widely used curriculum that sorts feelings and arousal states into four color-coded zones (blue, green, yellow, red); learners identify their zone by color throughout the school day (https://www.zonesofregulation.com).
• Early elementary "color of my day" check-in — learners color a paper swatch each morning; the teacher scans the room for signals of distress and follows up privately.
• Art therapy practice — color-choice and color-expression activities are standard tools in child art therapy for accessing emotions that clients cannot yet verbalize (American Art Therapy Association, https://www.arttherapy.org).

Key Sources¶

• Terwogt, M. M., & Hoeksma, J. B. (1995). Colors and emotions: Preferences and expressions. The American Journal of Psychology, 108(1), 35–56.
• Kaya, N., & Epps, H. H. (2004). Relationship between color and emotion: A study of college students. College Student Journal, 38(3), 396–405.
• Paivio, A. (1990). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195066661.001.0001
• Kuypers, L. M. (2011). The Zones of Regulation: A curriculum designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. Think Social Publishing.
• Sutton, T. M., & Altarriba, J. (2016). Color associations to emotion and emotion-laden words: A collection of norms for stimulus construction. Behavior Research Methods, 48(2), 686–728. doi:10.3758/s13428-015-0598-8