The electromagnetic spectrum of light, or a simple color wheel, can show your students where warm colors and cool colors begin and end. Beginning with red, a warm color, the colors gradually become cooler until they end with violet-red (red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, violet, violet-red). The colors on the left side of the spectrum are warmer colors, the colors on the right end are cooler. Hand out a copy of the spectrum to your students so they can see the progression of colors.
Have your students point out things around them that are warm and cool. For example, your students may point out that the sun is yellow, which is a warm color, or that the blue ocean is a cool color. Hand out a worksheet of different things and objects such as fire, grass, flowers and fruits. Then have each student write whether the object can be categorized as a warm or cool color.
Explain to your students that artists use warm and cool colors to convey different feelings. Warm colors are supposed to make you feel warm, happy, cheerful and excited. Cool colors are supposed to make your feel calm, relaxed and even somber. Show your students famous works of art in which warm and cool colors are specifically used. "Water Lilies" (1906) and "San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight," both by Claude Monet, are good examples of different paintings using warm and cool colors.
Show your students how warm and cool colors can alter paintings and drawings with a simple project. Hand out two identical coloring-book pages to each student. Instruct them to color one page using only warm colors. When finished, they will color the second page using only cool colors. When the two pages are colored, have each student examine the pages and describe how they make the person feel different. Even though they are the same picture, the different colors will convey different feelings.