Teaching colors

[NightOwl]

I have a very young group, 12 months to 2.5 yrs old. We're about to start our unit on colors and I'm coming up short on crafts/activities to do for these colors: brown, grey, black and white. Any ideas? Pinterest, surprisingly, hasn't been much help.

[Angelsj]

I have a very young group, 12 months to 2.5 yrs old. We're about to start our unit on colors and I'm coming up short on crafts/activities to do for these colors: brown, grey, black and white. Any ideas? Pinterest, surprisingly, hasn't been much help.

Brown, owl
Grey, whale or seal
Black and white, cow

However, you needn't really make up a ton of special crafts. Give them brown finger paint and paper. Use brown playdo. Glue brown triangles to a green or white piece of paper. Anything that gives you the opportunity to name the color will work. Play in brown mud. Eat chocolate pudding. Have an entirely brown lunch. ( Pancakes, syrup, bacon, celery with peanut butter, etc)
The list is endless.

[daycare]

I never sit and say this is red this is yellow this is blue..'


I do it while in natural state of play

can you pass me the blue car, (kid gives the yellow one) Yes that is yellow, can you pass me the blue car......rinse and repeat.

all of my kids have learned this way...most of them don't have the attention span to sit through a lesson.

another way I do it is hold up a blue car and say can you pass me the other blue car, yes you gave me the blue car, high five.....

[Rockgirl]

I never sit and say this is red this is yellow this is blue..'


I do it while in natural state of play

can you pass me the blue car, (kid gives the yellow one) Yes that is yellow, can you pass me the blue car......rinse and repeat.

all of my kids have learned this way...most of them don't have the attention span to sit through a lesson.

another way I do it is hold up a blue car and say can you pass me the other blue car, yes you gave me the blue car, high five.....

Exactly what I do. I do the same with right & left...let's tie your left shoe, put on your right mitten, etc.

[Annalee]

I never sit and say this is red this is yellow this is blue..'


I do it while in natural state of play

can you pass me the blue car, (kid gives the yellow one) Yes that is yellow, can you pass me the blue car......rinse and repeat.

all of my kids have learned this way...most of them don't have the attention span to sit through a lesson.

another way I do it is hold up a blue car and say can you pass me the other blue car, yes you gave me the blue car, high five.....

Play creates endless learning experiences.....

[Baby Beluga]

Two of our favorite when doing colors:

I will put flash cards, or pieces of construction paper on the floor and have the kids toss bean bags onto the color when it is their turn. "Sally, can you find green?" then she will toss her bean bag on green.

I also like to place colored blocks or other smallish grab-able item on the floor and put a box on a table. Then I call out "Sally can you find the green block?" She will then pick up the green block and put it into the box.

[midaycare]

I just did a color unit from Funshine and they had a shape mobile craft which was pretty cool. Just have them fingerpaint or use a paint brush to color shapes you have already cut out. Tape or somehow configure to pieces of string, pull the string through a piece of paper and hang from the ceiling.

[ColorfulSunburst]

sorting






felt-board

[midaycare]

sorting
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felt-board

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Do you use your felt board a lot? Do you like it? Do the kids like it?

[daycare]

Do you use your felt board a lot? Do you like it? Do the kids like it?

I love making felt board stories....my kids love them. especially when they are rhyming...

[NightOwl]

sorting
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felt-board

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cute!!

[ColorfulSunburst]

Do you use your felt board a lot? Do you like it? Do the kids like it?

Yes I like it. The kids can use the felt board at any moment if they want. Usually when I start "to play" with the board they always join me.))) I also use it during circle time. My kids are 18m.o., 2.2y.o., 2.3y.o., 3y.o.

[melilley]

I never sit and say this is red this is yellow this is blue..'


I do it while in natural state of play

can you pass me the blue car, (kid gives the yellow one) Yes that is yellow, can you pass me the blue car......rinse and repeat.

all of my kids have learned this way...most of them don't have the attention span to sit through a lesson.

another way I do it is hold up a blue car and say can you pass me the other blue car, yes you gave me the blue car, high five.....

This is what I do, especially for the 2.5 and under group.
We will paint with a certain color sometimes, but other than that, I mention colors while we are playing.

[KiddieCahoots]

I never sit and say this is red this is yellow this is blue..'


I do it while in natural state of play

can you pass me the blue car, (kid gives the yellow one) Yes that is yellow, can you pass me the blue car......rinse and repeat.

all of my kids have learned this way...most of them don't have the attention span to sit through a lesson.

another way I do it is hold up a blue car and say can you pass me the other blue car, yes you gave me the blue car, high five.....

.........We use the rhymes....."green, green, jelly bean", etc., to hit on phonological awareness too.

My CDA instructor, who is also a teacher of a prominent center in my area instructed that children naturally pick up colors on their own when you incorporate it into any curriculum.

[preschoolteacher]

My CDA instructor, who is also a teacher of a prominent center in my area instructed that children naturally pick up colors on their own when you incorporate it into any curriculum.

I agree . I never explicitly taught my son "this is green, this is blue" but through talking and reading and playing he picked it up.

I realized he knew and could say the names of every color when he was 18 months old and we were waiting in a long line at the fabric store. There were bolts of fabric by us and to pass time, I asked him "what's this color?" and he did them all.

One fun thing you could do is to collect a bunch of white toys, gray, brown, etc. And put them in little containers to sort and just talk about the colors as the kids mix, dump, and play.