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Creativity / Colors and combinations / Grade 4 / cc4aj

Count a Deliberately Limited Palette - Practice 2

A limited palette restricts the number of distinct color choices.

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Learn the skill

A limited palette restricts the number of distinct color choices. Reusing a color in several places does not add a new color. A small palette can still support many designs; it is a chosen constraint, not a measure of artistic worth.

Worked example

Using red, blue, red and yellow uses three distinct named colors, not four.

Four swatches read red, blue, red, yellow. There are four colored areas but only three distinct named colors: red, blue and yellow.
Four swatches read red, blue, red, yellow. There are four colored areas but only three distinct named colors: red, blue and yellow.
Question 1 Palette 6 lists areas colored yellow, green, blue, yellow. How many distinct named colors are used?
Question 2 Palette 7 lists areas colored violet, violet, white. How many distinct named colors are used?
Question 3 Palette 8 lists areas colored orange, blue, orange, blue. How many distinct named colors are used?
Question 4 Palette 9 lists areas colored green, green, green, green. How many distinct named colors are used?
Question 5 Palette 10 lists areas colored red, yellow, blue, red, yellow. How many distinct named colors are used?

Make It Your Own

Optional theme: a place that changes overnight. Choose no more than three named colors for an imagined poster. Repeat them wherever useful and explain what the limit helped you decide. You may draw, write or tell your idea. Use invented characters and places; no personal information or upload is needed. This activity is not scored.

Reflect on your choices

  • Count distinct colors, not the number of painted areas.
  • Explain one intentional choice and one possible alternative.
  • There is no required style or single correct creative response.