How to Teach Colors to Your Child
by Krista Guerrero
Children are given a gift a birth. This gift is the desire to learn everything as quickly as they can. They also want to learn everything as quickly as possible. Often times adults are not capable of understanding just how rapidly small children can learn new things. Once we become aware of this gift we can teach our children all sorts of things.
You can teach colors to your child in a very subtle manner. You do not need to drill your child and ask them what color everything is to see if they can identify the colors. It is much simpler to make teaching colors a part of your day. When you discuss what clothes your child is wearing you can easily make reference to color. You can point out that their white socks would look great with their black shoes.
When speaking to your child, always reference the color of what you are talking about. When you do this your child will be learning to identify color without the pressure of constantly being tested.
I recall try to teach my 2 year old her colors. We were playing a game with some M&Ms. I would tell her some colors and then ask her to identify the colors for me. It was so frustrating to me because she kept getting them wrong and I felt that she knew them.
Later in my life I learned that you can teach a baby their colors well before 2 years old. As you talk to your baby make color words a part of your speech. Point out the blue sky. Ask them if they like this yellow rattle. By discussing color words in your everyday talk, your baby is easily learning to identify different colors.
If you wish to play games with your child you can get different colored objects and tell them the colors you have. Do not introduce more than four colors in one session. You can take some colored blocks and place them in front of your child. Point out green, red, blue and yellow to your child. Stack the blocks and as you do, name each color. Restack them in a different color pattern. Just do this while your child watches. You can then offer your child a turn to build their own stack. If your child does not volunteer the names of the colors, go ahead and name them as they interact with each color.
There are many ways to teach color identification to your child. Look around at your environment for more opportunities.
Krista Guerrero is the founder of Intellectual Baby, LLC, a Florida based company that produces and distributes educational products for babies and toddlers. The product line includes, DVD’s, flash cards, toys, books, and more. If you would like to teach your child to identify, read and spell all the color names check out the Monki See Video All About Colors. You can view a sample of this entertaining and educational DVD at http://www.monkisee.com/all_about_colors_dvd.html.
