How Should You Choose Colors for a Children’s Website? Tips for Keeping a Colorful Design Easy to Read

TIPS

Does a website for children become fun simply by using lots of colors? Strong colors on every heading, background, and button can make it harder to find the activities and registration instructions. The goal is not to avoid color, but to decide where lively colors belong and which consistent colors support text and actions. This guide uses a fictional science-and-crafts activity club as an example.

Use light colors to distinguish activities, and keep text and action colors consistent

Begin by separating the area where children can discover activities from the information that parents or guardians need to check: dates, age ranges, supplies, and registration methods. Science and craft activities may use backgrounds in different hues, but giving headings and body text the same dark color helps readers recognize information across the page.

Instead of covering many large surfaces with high-saturation colors—colors that look particularly vivid—use a quieter overall background and softly colored activity panels. However, children do not all enjoy or perceive the same colors in the same way. Evaluate the design not just by whether it feels cheerful, but also by whether explanations can be read and interactive elements can be found.

Label activity cards clearly, for example “Try an experiment” and “Make a craft,” rather than relying on yellow and purple to identify them. Reserve a separate accent for the main registration button. An accent color is a color used selectively to draw attention to an important action. Underline text links, too, so their function differs from that of the filled button in more than color alone.

Build a seven-color palette for science and craft activities

Imagine a fictional club where children can explore activities and parents can review how to register together with them. A HEX code specifies a color using a hash sign (#) and six characters from 0–9 and A–F. Assign these seven colors to clear roles:

Overall page: soft cream #FFF9F0 — the space around activity listings and essential information.
Headings and body text: deep navy #24334A — activity titles, participation conditions, dates, and materials.
Information cards: white #FFFFFF — schedules, fees, and registration instructions that need longer reading.
Science activity surface: pale yellow #FFF0B8 — a card headed “Try an experiment.”
Craft activity surface: pale lavender #EAE2FA — a card headed “Make a craft.”
Links and necessary card borders: deep teal #176278 — underlined links and the outline of an interactive card.
Registration button: deep orange #A44B25 — the background of “Register for a trial session.”

On the cream page #FFF9F0, place the science activity on #FFF0B8 and the craft activity on #EAE2FA. Use the same navy text #24334A for both activity titles and descriptions. Show age ranges and dates on white #FFFFFF information cards with dark lettering. The activities, schedules, and enrollment details in this example are fictional, not announcements for a real class.

Regular information links can use #176278 with underlines. On a white information card #FFFFFF, fill the “Register for a trial session” button with #A44B25 and use #FFFFFF for the label. Giving links and buttons different shapes makes their purposes easier to recognize even when the website contains several colors.

A contrast ratio measures the difference in relative brightness between adjacent colors. Navy text #24334A on cream #FFF9F0 has a ratio of approximately 12.18:1. The same navy text on pale yellow #FFF0B8 reaches about 11.17:1, and on lavender #EAE2FA about 10.17:1. White #FFFFFF text on the orange #A44B25 button reaches about 5.81:1. All four meet the minimum 4.5:1 ratio for normal-size text at Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.

Check what remains recognizable when the page is colorful

Do not rely on pale background differences to indicate a clickable card. Pale yellow #FFF0B8 and the page background #FFF9F0 contrast by just about 1.09:1; lavender #EAE2FA and the page background by about 1.20:1. If an entire activity card is interactive, add a clear border in deep teal #176278. It contrasts with the yellow surface by approximately 6.03:1 and with the lavender surface by about 5.49:1, exceeding the 3:1 benchmark for necessary visual boundaries of interactive components.

Communicate states and warnings through words. When a session is full or registration closes, show a label such as “Registration closed” and do not leave a button that appears to permit registration. When adding photographs or illustrations, keep text on a solid background where possible; otherwise, verify contrast at the actual text location.

Test how both children and guardians navigate. On a phone, check whether users can find the activity name, schedule, age range, and registration instructions in a sensible order. Inspect button spacing, type sizes, and keyboard-focus indicators—the visible outlines marking which element can currently be operated with the keyboard. Use color to distinguish activities, while keeping the basic rules for reading and interacting consistent throughout the site.