Color is an aspect of everyone. Everything you do involves color. Even if you can’t see it, you can always feel it, smell it, hear it, and even think it. Think about the sun and you think blazing hot orange, the soothing heat, glowing sky, radiating warmth, sometimes dry air, sometimes humid and dense air. Think about baseball and you think bold green grass contrasted with light sandy dirt, the bold uniform colors, the red seams gripping your fingers as they are protruding from the ball, the crack of the wooden bat as the white ball contrasts through the blue summer sky. You get the point – and you can do this with any color or object or verb or thought.

The idea is that color is critical in development of a healthy psyche. The education/schooling system (along with the home) need to leverage color to stimulate the mind and ensure children are absorbing what they are being taught, in the environment which surrounds them.

Research in color can go a long way. I found an interesting synopsis of a study done within a School Planning and Management group. It talks about developing positive color schemes within schools at appropriate age groups and within appropriate subject areas. For example, the primary colors that work with young children aren’t so fashionable for the mind of a teenager. Teens want the cool colors of ultramarine, baby blue, orange, etc. The article also talks about using variety in color, using contrasting colors to make an effective presentation, and trying not to over-stimulate the student.

In my opinion, color should be a part of every lesson plan, and engaging the mind in this manner is essential to developing the balance in psyche that leads to a happy and healthy society.

“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.”
– John Ruskin