learning colors

Childhood can be a special time and one activity kids of various ages love to do is collecting, so for lots of play how about making a color collection?

A color collection can be an assortment of items all of one color or it can be things a child likes just because of the colors. It can last for several months, or just a few days. This is a pink collection that occurred this week and has had a home on the dresser.

While kids will collect rocks, stickers, buttons, dinosaurs, special TV or movie characters, bits of nature, and particular toys, what appeals to one child may not appeal to another. Big Sister likes crystals and Little Sister likes monkeys, possibly because they are allowed to jump on the bed.

Collecting anything is more complicated than it appears. It involves being able to put objects into groups as well as figuring out if any one piece belongs to the group or not. This skill of categorizing is a brain strategy for condensing vast amounts of information into more manageable chunks. Kids also need to make choices about what they want to keep.

Do you go out for walks with your child and have to stop numerous times to check out the treasures that appear? Walking with Little Sister almost means having to take along a bag for all the things she wants to bring home.

Have you heard the recent news about scientists finding some tremendously old skeletons? One of the tasks has been to discover how this group, homo naledi, is similar to and differs from homo sapiens. This is categorizing at a very advanced level, and for children, this skill is involved in making collections. I wonder if these paleontologists had collections when they were kids? 

For some plays-of-the-days, maybe future scientists could start by making a color collection?

Need an alternative to the toys all over the floor? Instead of spreading them out, kids can gather them in as their toys make a rainbow.

Use as big a piece of paper as possible or several put together and draw an outline of a rainbow, in a big half circle.  Make one big line for each color, with the red on the outside and the purple on the inside. Use all of the 6 basic colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Kids bring the toys from the far corners of the area and match the color of the toy to the color line of the rainbow. All the red toys go on the red line, all the orange on the orange line, and so on. Not only are kids practicing the colors, they are also making decisions. A toy can easily have more than one color, so which line will it match? How does your child decide? If one color is a favorite, no matter how small that bit of color on the toy, that could be where it will end up. There might also be some colors that are hard to tell. Are there any items at your house called one color by one person and another color by someone else?

Some children may play at this longer than others, depending on their interests and ages. With all the toys together, kids will find different ways to play with them, some that they may not have thought of before. In any case, with the toys on the paper it is easy and quick to slide them into the toy box.

This activity doesn’t have to wait for a rainy day. After all, could we ever have too many rainbows?

Games are a great way to have fun, play with others, and learn at the same time. Here are some action games for colors. Simon Says is an action game that most kids are familiar with. Instead of instructions to touch your nose, pat your head, or jump three times, kids can give an action … Continue reading Action Games for Colors →

Lego, Rubik’s Cube, and other toys immortalize colors of childhood. Can you recall quite vividly the color of Big Bird, Oscar, Elmo, and Barney? Quite often there are surveys on Facebook to find out people’s ages or decade they grew up. I’m sure there could be one to find out what toys people played with … Continue reading Lego, Rubik’s Cube, & Other Toys Immortalize Colors →

Nature colors each day brightly, almost in recognition of the vibrant energy of kids and school. Today, we did some fun activities with the color orange. Orange as an orange, or maybe a carrot? While there is knock, knock joke about oranges (and bananas) there are lots of books about carrots. What animal loves carrots? … Continue reading Fun Activities with the Color Orange →

For some colorful plays-of-the-day today how about a whole bunch of activities for kids and color red fun? In the words of Kathy Stinson, Red is Best. There are so many different variations of each color. Just think of the color red. Rudolph’s nose is red; tomatoes, many apples, strawberries, blood, roses, maple leaves, and … Continue reading Colors of Childhood: Kids and Color Red Fun →

Did Google introduce a new doodle just for kids and back to school? The bright colors have inspired a challenge: a whole month on the colors of childhood.No matter the colors of the other months or holidays, September has the most vibrant array. There are the bright blues, reds, greens, and yellows for back to … Continue reading Fun and Play with Color: The Colors of Childhood →