Won't mislabeld colors confuse children?
Bear’s aren’t always brown, and the word awesome and pink have nothing to do with each other, so why would Crayola decide to make these new color names?
The crayon giant decided to create some new names in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 64 count box (the one with the sweet crayon sharpener in the back).
The new names are: Fun in the Sun (Yellow), Super Happy (Orange), Giving Tree (Green), Bear Hug (Brown), Awesome (Dusty Pink), Happy Ever After (Blue), Famous (Hot Pink) and Best Friends (Purple). *Note* these changes are more like fun in the sun used to be vivid tangerine. no worries, the actual orange is still in the box.
OK. I’m 24-years-old, and I have no idea what “dusty pink” is, let alone that awesome would equal said color.
However, before I go ripping apart the color names, I do have to admit that I like the way the company came up with the names, they got suggestions online from almost 20,000 kids. I honestly think that’s cool. It also reminded me of back in 1995 when people could phone in a vote for the new M&M color (I voted for blue, boo-yah).
But fun children’s involvement aside, I have to think these eight colors will be somewhat misleading to kids. I still remember being a preschool teacher. My kids were between 2.5 and 3, and our goals for the year including “potty training” (ugh!), learning shapes, life skills (washing hands, please and thank you, etc.) and our primary colos, which I must brag most kids in my class could identify way more than just the three.
But coloring was a big way they learned those colors. If they were going to learn, let’s say yellow, I’d give everyone some construction paper, break out all the yellow markers and crayons and they’d all draw something that’s yellow.
I think by holding the color in their hand, they made a stronger connection. But now, how will a child make a connection between a mix of red and blue being something called “Best Friends” and not purple, or orchid, like it originally was?
Now I know my views are somewhat one-sided since I only taught children and do not actually have any of my own. What do you think of the new names? Do your kids approve? Did they vote? And then, just for fun, if we could name just one more color, what would it be? I’m going to pick plethora for white, since white is really just the color you get when you mix them all together. For a list of the names click here
My kids didn’t vote, and I don’t know what they think; but my initial reaction is that it makes absolutely no sense to give names to colors which have no relation to their color. I’m fine with Dusty Pink, or hot pink, or whatever but “Famous”??? Ahhhh-no.
BTW your “plethora” name would be better suited for black. In pigments, BLACK is what you get when you mix all the colors. White is what you get when you mix the full spectrum of colors in light. But hey, these names make no sense whatever, so go ahead and use it for a white crayon!
I don’t think most kids will really care what the “names” of the colors are. I also am not sure how many parents really would know that a crayon is “named” so I believe we should just ignore it as some people at a fun company having some fun at their job. Why does everything have to be looked at with a wary eye. Let the kids draw us some nice pictures with some odd colors and brighten our days!
I’m new to blogs and just come across the title – mislabeld (mislabeled) colors, an interesting topic.
Colors are just that, colors.
What is Green?
What is Red?
What is Blue?
What is Yellow?
What is White?
Now with your difinition in mind, describe it to a blind person that has never seen anything other than Dark, or a color-blind person that sees eggs as two different shades of Gray.
Now, What is a Rainbow?
I can see, Oh what a beautiful Rainbow it is!
No matter what the color.