How to teach colors to toddlers is one of the biggest thoughts that goes through our mummy brains from around the age of 12 to 18 months old.
I’m pretty sure that teaching color’s to your toddler is something which has naturally occurred and been incorporated in everyday life perhaps even earlier.
As our babies turn into toddlers and start to talk and interact more as they are playing, learning color’s and numbers seems to be some of the first topics of conversation for most.
I will give you some helpful pointers on how to teach colors to toddlers.
It is important that it is something which will gradually happen over time and our toddler will learn at their own pace.
Before we know, they will shouting out the color’s of the rainbow quicker than us.
Repeat Repeat Repeat
How to teach color’s to toddlers?! Start with the obvious by saying and pointing at various objects and their color’s when out and about during the day at the supermarket or the various cars that pass by on the street as you are out for a walk.
Yes you will feel repetitive and yes you will question your own sanity but it really does work!
As a family we go out often in the car and inevitably get stuck at traffic lights far too many times.
Our little girl’s favourite thing to do is to say the colors of the traffic light and also associate that with what we need to do, for example she says “Green, go” and “Red, stop.”
We have our very own two year old driving instructor in the car with us.
Teaching Colors In Pairs
Our toddlers will love learning but as we briefly mentioned above, it is something which is not to be rushed otherwise can be too overwhelming for all.
How to teach colours to toddlers you may ask?! First of all, try teaching color’s two at a time and color’s which are on different ends of the color spectrum to avoid any confusion eg. red and blue, black and white, purple and yellow.
Once the decided two colors have been conquered, the rest of the rainbow is ready to be taught.
Reading
Reading fun, simple books about colors for toddlers is one of the best ways you can introduce and teach colors to the youngest in the family during storytime.
Check out our fabulous article listing the Best Books About Colors For Toddlers.
The brighter the colors and bolder the illustrations the better for catching our little monkey’s attention making learning lots of fun!
Play
Colors are all around us so it seems pretty obvious that it is one of the big milestones for our little ones when growing up.
A great example of using play to teach colors is our First Color Sorting Activity For Toddlers. Toddlers love sensory play so this is the perfect way to combine teaching colors and fun sensory play.
Another way of setting up a color sorting activity is to collect as many specific colored toys or safe household items and put them in one large container.
As previously mentioned, it is best sticking with two colors on various sides of the color spectrum.
Here I have gone for blue and yellow.
Art
Art is a great way of not only teaching colors but also practising image/word recognition.
Something we regularly do in our house is ‘Guess the object’ where I will either draw or paint an object and my little girl names the object.
It is an exciting way for our children to recgonise the various items and also the different colors.
Without even intentionally doing this, our toddlers may start to build phrases and sentences too.
It may simply start off as “ red car” which is a big step in their language development but could eventually develop into “big red car” or varying the adjective.
Of course our little ones want to give us a helping hand and colour some of the objects we have drawn as shown in the above image.
What did you find the most effective way to teach your toddlers colors?
We would love to know!
