Helping Your Preschooler Learn Colors

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My sister in law was telling me a funny story the other day about a little boy in her class who is having difficulty learning his colors. All the children in her school are assigned a ‘house’, which they belong to throughout their time at her primary school. The ‘houses’ are given colors and the children are told they are in ‘blue house’, ‘red house’, ‘yellow house’, or ‘green house’. The children can earn points for their house with good behavior, and the winning house is given a treat at the end of each term.

With her new 5 year old children, she is given the task of introducing the house system and telling each child which house they belong to. The whole concept can be a bit confusing for the little ones, but the colours are usually easy for them to identify with. Anyway, she was sitting down with her New Entrant children and telling them which colour they belonged to. She had coloured cards to write their names on so they could remember. Most of the children knew their colours and were able to look at their colour and recite it. One little boy wasn’t able to recogise colours and when she told him he was in ‘yellow house’ he couldn’t identify which one it was. When she pointed to it he said “banana!” She had a bit of a giggle to herself, and said yes, it was the same colour as bananas, and that it was called yellow. Throughout the day she would ask the children which house they were in, and this little boy kept replying “banana!”

He obviously has a strong association with bananas, and a very weak one with the names of colours! These ‘associations’ are very important in the learning processess for children. It may not be what we would expect, but it is a link to some prior knowledge that the child has. This prior knowledge is what children base a lot of their new learning on, and is very important.

Here are some tips for parents on how to help their children learn the names of colors at home:
1. As you are hanging out the washing, ask your preschooler to hand you the pegs, naming a color that you want. You will need to show them the first time, but they can hunt around for the same color again.
2. Keep a jar of old large buttons for your older preschooler, (who won’t swallow them!). Her children loved sorting the buttons into groups of different colors.
3. At thesupermarket, ask your preschooler to find some items on the shelves for you. Describe them using colors. e.g. the green box, or the red tin with yellow writing.
4. Play “I spy with my little eye, something that is blue.” This can be a good game to play in the car, and is particularly good for children who don’t yet know their alphabet.

5. Talk to your preschooler about the color of the clothes they are wearing each day. You will soon learn what their favourite color is, and they may only want to wear that color for weeks on end!!

Knowing their colours before they start school is a useful thing that parents can teach their children. They will be able to use this information throughout the school day, whether it be choosing a colour of crayon to use, making algebra patterns at Maths time, or in conversations with other children. It’s all valuable learning.