There are three key things your toddler should know (or at least have a good basic grasp of) before heading to school or nursery and these are numbers, letters and colours. Today we are going to look at colours on their own and share some ways you can teach your child about them without making it too formal.
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Serve colourful meals: One of the easiest ways to teach your toddler about colours is through food- but you need to serve a rainbow of foods in order to get the best out of this opportunity. If you practice this at every mealtime, not only will they be able to identify lots of different foods but the colours of them too.
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When you are out and about: If they see a car in the road on your walk and name it- ask them what colour it is. If they see a cow in a field as you drive past, ask them what colour it is. If you take them for a picnic in the park, ask them to name the colours of the flowers and the grass.
Spot the colours while reading: If you can get your hands on a book that is about colours, great, but any toddler friendly book will do as they are all so colourful. As you read each page, ask them what colour the character is or the colour of something in the background and soon they will start to do it without you asking.
Give them a choice: If they have a few of the same type of toys in their toybox ask them which colour they want from the range. For instance asking, ‘which colour car would you like?’ Or ‘which colour block do you want?’ will get them to make the distinction.
Dress them in colourful clothes: Try to vary their wardrobe so they have lots of colour in there. Then when you put them in something new you can ask them what colours they are wearing. If you can, try to do the same- ‘mummy is wearing a pink t-shirt’.
Take them to colourful places: Botanical gardens, playgrounds and family friendly attractions are always bursting with colour which will give you the opportunity to talk to your little one about what they see around them.
Choose colourful toys and crafts: If you are looking to buy them a new toy- try and get ones that come in different colours such as wooden blocks or colouring pencils or crayons. With each new one they pick this provides a prompt for you to ask the all important question.
Colours are all around us, but we often miss them because we are distracted with other things. Think like a toddler- make the most of every visual opportunity there is out there and celebrate with colour!
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