Many kindergarten readiness checklists include being able to identify colors. This gives teachers an idea of a child’s level of thinking skills. Colors are a tricky concept. Many objects can be the same color; apples, socks, berries, cars, etc can all be red but the red color can be quite different each time. There’s tremendous variation for each color. In order for children to learn a color they need to see lots of things that are each color and lots that aren’t. Colors are not objects; they are ideas, abstract not concrete. Kids who are struggling with colors may be struggling with other concepts, too.
There are lots of ways to help children learn colors. Camping is a great opportunity to check some out. What color is the tent? What colors are there around the campsite? When driving along, look at the color of other cars, signs, and buildings. What color is everyone wearing? What color of food is on the picnic table? This book “Camping in Green”, written by Christianne Jones, could be a model to make up stories for other colors. A few minutes work on colors will help your child learn this readiness for kindergarten skill. What color is fun?
Numbers can be very confusing. There is a number on the license plate of the car, but that’s not for how many. When waiting, someone is 1st in line but a whole car of people can be 1st. There’s numbers on the campsite for location. Sigh–it can all add up to be lots of numbers for a little one. So, practicing all the ways that we use numbers is very important for kids and helps with readiness for kindergarten. Camping is 4 counting and 4 lots more, 2. Is that something else to count I see? The ants go marching 1 by 1….