How to Teach Kids Colors

December 22nd, 2008 |

When young kids go to any formal education, their knowledge of colors is checked. Colors are an easy way to check learning and it is possible to start teaching the colors at a very early age. Kids as young as 2 years old can learn their colors and build good learning connections in their brain. The earlier they start, the better it is for their learning abilities.

It is very important to understand the process of learning when teaching abstract concept like colors. For kids to recognize a color, they need to have accumulated hundreds of information pieces that help them define that color concept.

The understanding of what this thing is not is greatly helpful in forming a concept. We call these "negative examples". When you show a kid an apple and say the color is green, it is possible for the kid to remember the shape of the apple and think this is the meaning of green. You must also show an apple that is not green.

Through our examples, we need to help our kids learn that color has no shape. Green can be an apple, a fabric or a leaf.

Colorful pencils Through our examples, we need to help our kids learn that color has no size. Green can be small, it can be big and it can be huge.

Through our examples, we need to help our kids learn that color can be seen outside or inside. Green can be on a tree and it can be in the closet.

Through our examples, we need to help our kids learn that color can have different textures. Green can be smooth (apple) or rough (grass).

Do you get the idea?

Every time you show your kids something green but with a different quality to it, you refine and enhance their understanding of the concept. The more examples you expose your kids to, the better they will understand the concept.

Teaching colors is an easy task because we do not really need to buy anything to do it. We only need persistence and repetition, two free skills that will get you a long way as a teacher.

Tips for teaching colors

When you show something, say a red balloon, use the word "color" together with the name of the object. Instead of saying "this is red", it is better to say "this is a balloon and its color is red".
Do not test your kids before you are done teaching. It will put them off and prevent them from learning.
When teaching colors, remember that receptive language comes before expressive language. Kids will be able to point out the right color long before they can say its name. At the beginning of the process, ask them to pick up all the blue pieces. If they do not know, show them a few, until they catch on.
Stick to the main colors - Red, Blue, Yellow, Black and White - and only later add the other colors.
It is better to dedicate time to each color separately. Having "Green week" or "Blue week" is wonderful and works magic in teaching the colors. Usually, when teaching colors over a whole week, the concept is learned very well. As I said before, the more you repeat it, the better it is and if you do it over one week, it is easy to reach high numbers of experiences and exposure to one color.
Experiencing colors in different ways helps carve the concept in the brain. When learning colors, kids can experience the colors through all their senses - sight, sound, smell, taste, touch - the more experiences they get, the easier it is to remember. Be creative and come up with unusual ways of teaching colors.

84 ideas to teach colors

In the week of a color, get your kids to dress in clothes of that color
Make jelly in the week's color
Use plates in the week's color
Teach your kids to wrap gifts with gift wrap of the week's color
Use cups in the week's color
Put a bit of food color in their bath tab or just buy bubble bath in color (it contains food color anyway)
Let your kids cut out paper in the week's color
When teaching a color, bring cordial in that color to drink that week
Make muffins with a bit of food color on that particular day
If you are thinking by now about the effects of food colors, just buy a natural one and relax about it. Unless your kids are seriously allergic to food colors, using small amounts will make no difference to their health, but it will be very good for their learning.
When teaching red, eat strawberries
On black week, eat licorice
On black week, make licorice spiders
On brown week, eat chocolate (yum)
Ask your kids to find something in the color you are learning that week in your wardrobe
On each color week, ask kids to cut out items in that color from a magazine
On blue week, play with water and talk about living things in the sea
Make been bags in the color you are learning this week
On yellow week, eat mangos
When teaching blue, let kids play with a blue highlighting pen
When you teach the colors, say "yellow like the sun", "blue like the sky", "brown like your skin" and try to stick to the same examples
On black week, eat blackberries, black sesame or poke the little black seeds off Turkish bread
When teaching red, bring lipsticks and give the kids to play with them and make kiss stamps on paper
On green week, eat green apples and cucumbers
On brown week make cookies with the kids
When teaching orange, eat oranges and carrots
When teaching green, go outside and collect green leaves
When teaching yellow, do activities about the sun
On red week, eat watermelon and tomatoes
When teaching yellow, use a yellow highlighting pen
If you have a bed sheet in the color you are teaching this week, use it as a tent, a robe or a picnic cloth
On white week, make origami from white paper
Use nail polish in the color of the week. Kids love nail polish and you can find nail polish in any color you want
Get hair spray in the week's color
When teaching red, talk about love and do activities with love hearts
On white week, cook rice with the kids
On each color week, play "I spy with my little eye something in the color…"
On brown week, make brownies
On yellow week, make lemonade with the kids
On brown week, paint with different shades of mud
On yellow week, buy a pineapple to eat
On brown week, play with makeup
On each color week, use stickers in that color
On green week, eat lettuce and green grapes
On red week, eat red capsicum
On pink week, go out and get some pink fairy floss
When teaching the colors, sit with your kids, look at magazines and talk about things in different colors
On red week, eat cherry tomatoes
On red week, ask your kids to find all the red Lego parts (do the same with each color week)
On each color week, bring spray paint to play with - always supervise your kids and do it outside the house
When teaching colors, bring books about colors from the library
On green week, talk about nature and plants and plant something in your garden patch
On brown week, talk about sand and play in the sand pit
When teaching colors, let your kids paint with finger paint of that week's color
On brown week, put potatoes in water and watch them grow
When teaching color, you can paint salt with Tempura paint (it is a powder you add to the salt and it colors the salt)
In green week, use a green highlighting pen
Bring home ice cream in the color you are learning that week
On green week, eat avocados
On yellow week, do art and craft about bananas
On yellow week, eat bananas
Make dough in the color of the week and allow your kid to play with it
Bring different shades of the same color and ask the kids to draw with many colors of red, many colors of green, etc
After teaching black and white separately, have a black-and-white day
On black and white day, teach about zebras
On black and white day, teach about cows
On black and white day, bring black and white fabric to play with
On black and white day, use cut out black paper to paste on white paper
On gray week, talk about gray clouds
On gray week, do activities about elephants
On gray week, do activities about rhinoceroses
On gray week, watch "Dumbo"
When you are done with all the colors, teach silver and gold and explain that they are also kinds of metals
When teaching silver and gold, do activities with coins
Eat chocolate coins on gold week
When teaching silver and gold, show kids jewelry in silver and gold
Use glitter on silver week
When you have finished all the colors, do activities about the rainbow – stories, drawings, science…
When you have finished all the colors, replay some of the games, like "I spy" using different colors
When you have finished all the colors, work on mixing them - mix the dough and see what colors will comes out
When you have finished all the colors, mix cordials and see what color comes out
When you have finished all the colors, talk about chameleons
When you have finished all the colors, make nice mocktails ("virgin" cocktails) with cordial and fruit juices in transparent glasses to enjoy all the colors
When you have finished all the colors, play "catch" with the bean bags and call out the colors of what you are throwing or catching
When you have finished all the colors, eat bread or cake with colorful sprinkles

Remember, the more you talk about colors, the easier it will be for your kids' brains to store the information and later use it.

Kids do not learn their colors from the air. They are exposed to colors and learn them from their parents and teachers. Home is a wonderful place to teach the colors and the earlier your kids know their colors, the more connections they have in their brain and the more advanced they will be.

Colorful teaching,
Ronit