As soon as the calendar turns to July the holiday fun begins across most of North America. The red and white of Canada Day on July 1st and the red, white, and blue for July 4th in the U.S. turns multicolor as fireworks light up the sky. Summer sure does start with a bang in this part of the world.
Fireworks are very exciting and the colors and patterns seem to dance across the night. Kids need lots and lots of experiences to help them learn both colors and patterns and what could be more exciting? Before kids can match colors they need to learn the words. It’s easy to use color names when watching just by saying something as simple as “Oh, what a pretty green one.” Or, “That one is red just like Elmo.” For kids that know their colors, they can guess what the next one might be and check if it’s the same. There will lots of colors. Fireworks also have wonderful patterns. Some look like stars, some like flowers, or lines or circles. We can ask kids what they think one might look like. They will come up with their own words and suggestions.
The colors and patterns and designs of fireworks appeal to us. Watching and hearing fireworks is an intense experience for the senses of sight and sound. If we are close enough there is also a smell. While we might think that only using a few words for colors and patterns does not count as a learning experience, all these little bits of information accumulate to a staggering total that supports children’s learning and kindergarten readiness. For instance, did you know that kids hear about 10 million words in one year alone? Now that’s worth celebrating too. Can you use some color and pattern words for your child today?