Random color wheel

What colours are on the wheel?

Sixteen colour names that children learn early and adults use every day: the rainbow basics (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple), the neutrals (black, white, grey, brown), and six extras that make games more interesting (pink, turquoise, navy, maroon, gold and lavender). Every slice is filled with a typical shade of its colour, and the label switches automatically between dark and light text so it stays readable, even on yellow and white.

Colour games for kids

• Colour hunt. Spin, then everyone has ten seconds to touch something that colour. Great for a rainy afternoon or a classroom brain break.
• I spy, spun. Instead of choosing, the spinner says “I spy something…” and the wheel supplies the colour.
• Snack sort. Spin a colour and name a fruit or vegetable that matches. The fruit wheel makes a good second round.
• Letter and colour. Spin this wheel and the alphabet wheel for kids, then find something that is both, like a blue book or a red rug.

For toddlers who are just learning colours, start with only the six rainbow colours. Delete the rest in Edit as text; fewer, bigger slices are easier to follow.

Art and design prompts

Artists use a random colour to break habits. Spin once and make a whole sketch in that colour and its tints, or spin three times and build a palette from the results; unexpected pairs such as maroon, turquoise and gold often end up looking better than a planned scheme. Combine a spun colour with a subject from the drawing prompt wheel (“a lavender dragon”) or the list of drawing ideas and you have a daily sketch challenge.

Designers can replace the names with their own brand or project swatches. Type the names, then set each slice’s colour to your exact hex value, and the wheel becomes a random picker for your real palette.

Is this the same as a colour-theory color wheel?

No. In art class, a “color wheel” is a diagram that arranges hues in a circle, usually the three primaries (red, yellow, blue), the three secondaries between them (orange, green, purple) and the tertiary mixes in between, to show which colours are complementary or harmonious. It is a reference chart, not a game.

This page is a spinner that picks one colour at random. The slices are in an easy-to-read order, not the colour-theory order, and they include neutrals like black, white and grey that a hue wheel leaves out. If you want to practise colour theory, keep just the six primary and secondary colours in hue order, spin, and name the complementary colour opposite the winner.

Can I change the colours or add my own?

Yes. Type a new colour name into the box and pick its slice colour, or edit an existing one. Removing the winner after each spin is useful for a no-repeat colour-a-day challenge across two weeks: sixteen colours, sixteen days. Each slice has an equal chance, as the randomness guide explains.

About this list

We chose the sixteen names ourselves as common English colour words. The shades are representative rather than official, since there is no single “correct” red or turquoise. British spelling is used for grey; add “Gray” in its place if you prefer.