COLOR EXPOSURE!

Children learn their colors by age 3.

So, let’s give our toddlers a break. Even for the smartest toddlers on the block, learning colors is tough. It is an abstract concept that takes time and patience.

While we wait for each individual child’s readiness to learn the concept of color, there are a few things we can do to help our kids develop this knowledge.

LETS EXPOSE OUR CHILDREN TO LEARN THROUGH PLAY!

Life learning

Follow your child’s lead. If everything in your child’s life is “blue,” then only talk about or label blue things … until you are blue in the face. Then, introduce another color the following week; labeling all things red, for example. Breaking down colors one by one is much easier than learning the whole crayon box at one time.

Compare identical objects of different color. As children are still developing this HUGE database of words associated with objects, take out a variable. The distinction between colors is more clear when comparing objects that share the same current identifying name. For example, compare a red ball and a yellow ball, rather than a red shoe and a yellow jacket.

Active learning

Use puzzles and games to learn a new concept. Toddlers like to experience their world through touch, sound and play. A deck of flashcards will likely lose their interest quickly. Use tactile games and songs to share the rainbow. Remember Candyland, color dominoes, and color matching games? Time to pull those out and play.

Head to the Holy Grail of color-learning projects — Pinterest! Search “learning colors” to find hundreds of low-cost, easy-to-find household supplies that can be turned into wonderfully active color-learning play.

RAINBOW RICE SENSORY BIN

RAINBOW HAND PRINT ART ON CANVAS

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