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Colour by numbers

Beginner robot Difficulty 1/5 Screen-free lesson Stop 1 / 31 ages 5-7

A hands-on, screen-free CS Unplugged lesson for ages 5-7 (about 45 minutes), part of the 'Image Representation' unit.

For a grown-up to do with a child.

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Your guide

AI-written overview

What is it?

Colour by numbers is part of a CS Unplugged unit about how computers store pictures. You colour squares using number codes and learn that a picture on a screen is a grid of tiny squares called pixels.

Is it for me?

It is for children about 5-7 and up who like drawing and colouring, with a grown-up. It is a Beginner activity, and you only need paper and pencils.

Grown-ups: pencil is easier than pen, because mistakes can be rubbed out. The original lesson page has the printable pictures.

How to start

  1. Print the grid, or draw one on squared paper.
  2. Colour the squares using the number code.
  3. Swap with a friend and see if you got the same picture.

How much time?

Most lessons take about 45 minutes. Plan about 15 minutes for a session. (estimate)

15 min per session 2 sessions estimate

A plan you can follow

  1. Day 1 45 min Colour a small picture from its numbers.
  2. Day 2 30 min Make up a picture and write its number code.
  3. Week 1 45 min Try the next lesson on squeezing pictures into less space.
  4. Week 2 30 min Look for pixels on a screen with a magnifying glass.

Times are estimates. Go at your own speed.

Start the lesson

Open our lesson page for Colour by numbers. It is a short, simple version of an open lesson you can do together.

Go to the lesson

Adapted from CS Unplugged by the University of Canterbury Computer Science Education Research Group, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made: simplified, shortened and translated by Open Cosmos with AI.

On this site. From the list: uccser/cs-unplugged · License: CC-BY-SA-4.0 · CS Unplugged: Image Representation

Lesson from CS Unplugged, University of Canterbury CSER Group, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes were made: translated and level-tagged by Open Cosmos, with AI. Shared under the same license.

Your path through Pixels & drawing

Stop 1 Colour by numbers Screen-free lesson Stop 2 Awesome Resource list Stop 3 Colorful Resource list Stop 4 Design Principles Resource list Stop 5 Esolangs Resource list Stop 6 Icons Resource list Stop 7 Pixel Art Resource list

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