How to teach children to distinguish colors: effective methods, interesting ideas and recommendations

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The intellectual potential of the child is laid in the womb. The direction of its development is determined in the first years of life. It depends on the parents what the baby knows and can do at a toddler age. Therefore, they are often interested in the question of how to teach children to distinguish colors.

In stores you can find a huge amount of developing expensive toys. They are interesting and entertaining, but in order for knowledge to really accumulate, it is necessary to be guided by the characteristics of child development at each stage, to apply them with love and attention in communicating with a little man.

Knowledge of the colored world up to 1 year

Six-month-old baby begins to see the world in color. He reacts to bright things. This age is characterized by short-term color monochrome. So, for several days or weeks, the child chooses toys and objects of the same color (for example, yellow). The surrounding objects are full of uncertainty for him.

What you need to know about how to teachto distinguish the colors of children at this stage?

• The period is informative rather than educational. The task of parents is to interest and tell.
• Constant communication is the foundation of early development.
• Environmental awareness should be systemic.

Rules and methods for early learning of "colored" literacy

In this case, as in mastering any business, there are certain rules:

• Verbal method - description of the world around. Repetition is the mother of learning. Say what you see as often as possible. Walking with your child in the park, talk about the leaves on the trees, their color and shape. Tear off a leaf and let tactilely familiarize yourself with a new object. Do the same on your next walk. And for the third time, show the weed in the sequence of actions already known to him. It would be useful to focus on the fact that the leaves and grass are green.
• Take your time! No need to chatter incessantly: the berry is red, the leaf is green, the sun is yellow. If you chose green for training first, only pay attention to things of this color for several weeks. Only then can you move on to new discoveries. Don't forget to remind about what you already know.
• Use the Doman technique. Show cards with a tone of paint, name it. The playback time is a few seconds. The gradual increase in the number of images and information about them is the key to more effective memorization.
• Consider the character and mood of the child. You can teach only when he is full,satisfied and has no other needs.

How to teach a child to distinguish colors: a list of techniques

• Verbal method (pronunciation).
• Game method.
• Creative (drawing, modeling).
• Rhymed (poems and songs).

Play and creativity with colors: 1 to 2 years old

This period is already more informative. The kid got acquainted with the world through parental stories and his own discoveries. He knows a lot, but only begins to speak, understands questions and can answer them by pointing with his finger or nodding his head. At this stage, it is already possible to teach the child to distinguish shapes and colors. It is at this age that such actions will bring the most noticeable results.

To do this, you need to know important nuances. Next - information on how to teach children to distinguish colors:

• The first year and a half - the accumulation of understanding of colloquial speech. After - the development of their own speech apparatus.
• The child actively learns and remembers new things as a result of game tasks and comparisons.
• The period can be called the "second fundamental". The child, until he has learned all the information by heart, will be confused and rarely show interest. But it depends on how the little man will navigate the world of colors at the age of three.
• No need to demand regular correct answers. Don't be upset if he pointed to green when asked about red. The main thing is the process of thinking.
• Learning colors without shades: up to 2 years– four main ones.

Interesting ideas for games after 1 year

Learning through the game is not only educational, but also very interesting.

• Colored cubes. Initially, focus on one color according to the principle of initial acquaintance, only with a shorter time interval between transitions to a new one and a repetition of the known one. Show two cubes of different colors. Ask to choose among them green. Over time, increase the number of multi-colored cubes, complicate the process. Build a house for a doll or car.
• Associations. Playing with toy dishes and other objects (for example, mosaics). Task: place the cups on the appropriate plates, arrange small colored elements in them. This also includes clear associations with fruits or vegetables: tomato - red, cucumber - green, lemon - yellow, plum, eggplant - blue.
• Balls. Scatter balls of different shapes, textures and colors around the room. Ask them to put only reds or only blues in the basket. Invite the child to find and bring a small green, large yellow object. Establish a connection between color and shape.
• "Rainbow Lotto". In the elementary version, four identical multi-colored objects should be drawn on the sheet. They are duplicated piece by piece. Task: to establish a correspondence and decompose into places. It can be flowers, bows, butterflies, cars, houses, animals. Change blanks. The same pattern quickly gets bored, and the baby may lose interest. After a year and a half, usepatterns with geometric shapes. Make tasks harder. Make blanks with holes of different geometric shapes. Now let the child collect the missing picture: red square, yellow circle, etc.
• Slitted monochrome images. It can be fruits, vegetables, figures, tumblers or cars. One set - one type of objects in four color options. For a child 1-1, 5 years old, the task is to assemble a picture from 2-3 puzzles, for a two-year-old - from 4-5 pieces.
• Drawing. Tactile awareness develops. For early creativity, finger paints are suitable. Please note: closer to two years, the child chooses one color for drawing, depending on his mood. One day he can only paint in blue. Other times, only red. This characterizes his intellectual achievements in this area and his psycho-emotional state.

Potential and limitations in the learning process from 2 to 3 years

The baby is already very well developed. The stage of independence comes to replace the knowledge of the world: most often he prefers to eat, dress, undress on his own. At the same time, his brain is prepared to receive new information and successfully remember it. After certain achievements of a one-year-old baby, it is important to prevent developmental inhibition and remember how to teach a 2-year-old child to distinguish colors.

• The color range is expanding. He is able to remember more than four tones. Black and white are added to the main ones. Additional - orange and purple(individual).
• It is now possible to play and learn effectively not only with the help of toys, but also with clothes, household items and books.
• Continue to use the already known techniques in accordance with the age characteristics of the little man and common truths, how to teach children to distinguish colors.

Given these age-related changes, parents can teach their child a lot, including preparing for an adequate perception of colors.

How to teach a child to distinguish colors: tips and games

• Draw, sculpt, glue. Creativity is the engine of the development of the two-year period, a method of teaching and a means of self-realization. Paper, cardboard, s alt dough, plasticine, watercolor are the main assistants in "color" science.
• Don't stop talking about the colors around us. The little man remembers information better in a relaxed atmosphere. Did you see a crow? Tell us about her, about the color of her plumage. Went for a walk on a snowy frosty day? Play with the white snow by saying the information. Later, periodically remind about what you saw and its characteristics. This reinforces associations and stimulates memory.
• The base games are the same, with the appropriate palette expansion.
• Include the color “letter” in wardrobe processes. When dressing for a walk, choose things in the same range with your baby. Another time, leave it in a visible place in advance and ask for tights or a blouse of a certain shade.
• "Colored Things". Items needed: in advancepainted large pasta, multi-colored beads, mosaic elements, as well as 6-8 containers or boxes of the corresponding basic colors. Task: sort the "lost" objects by "houses".
• "A colorful world". Draw a picture in advance, for example, a green meadow, a green tree, a red house, a yellow sun in the sky, a blue cloud, a flying black crow, a white stork, an orange ball, a purple car (the variety should correspond to the level of development). It is necessary to cut out the same images from colored paper. Ask the baby to make an application. He can just sort things, or he can use glue to do this.
• "Associations". Prepare colorful images. Put them in balls of the corresponding color. Inflate them and let the child play. Pop and draw conclusions.
• "Colored letters". From this age, you need to start getting acquainted with letters and numbers. This should not be memorization, but a process of familiarization. In this context, this is ideal. Sort the letters, name the main ones. Ask for "yellow A", "red A", "blue B", "orange B". The number of letters to study is 2-3. The emphasis is on flowers.
• Read together poems on this topic, learn songs. Very often, children remember better in poetic or song form.

On the eve of the crisis of 3 years, the child regularly shows character. It is important to listen to your baby, understand him, be able to interest him. Psycho-emotional harmony and mutual understanding - in the first place, and only then -training.

Coloristics in the world of childhood from 3 to 4 years old

The kid is already quite mature and independent, he owns a certain stock of knowledge that needs to continue to be replenished. It is important to show ingenuity and patience in order to teach a child of 3 years to distinguish colors. Due to some peculiarities, inevitable but surmountable difficulties arise.

What is important to know about how to teach a child to distinguish colors:

• Crisis of 3 years. It is characterized by the perseverance of the child in what he wants and the protest against everything that is being imposed on him. There comes a period of awareness of one's own "I" and the formation of independence.
• An important period of psycho-emotional development. The color scheme is perceived differently. Expand existing knowledge to 12 colors (add pink, purple, orange, blue, brown). Depending on the level of assimilation of the material, it is possible to get acquainted with the shades of primary colors (crimson, burgundy, beige, gray).

Tips: how to teach a child to distinguish colors at 3-4 years old

Speak, remember, remind. Tell your baby about everything that is around, focusing on colors.

• Play basic games: dice and balls, bingo, puzzles, sorters, associations - and get creative: “color things”, “colorful world”, “color” wardrobe analysis. Improvise with known game situations, reworking them in a new way.
• "Rainbow". Children love rainbows. Try to learn together"memory" about her. Draw a big rainbow. Cut out colorful circles in advance. Let the child arrange them in the appropriate arcs.
• "Colorful cars". Walking through the streets of the city, while waiting for public transport, the kids watch the road and everything that happens around. A good activity is to count cars passing by. It is even more interesting to look for a car of a given color among them. You can also count the number of red or white cars on a certain stretch of highway.
• "Ice cream". Draw or cut out and glue together pictures of sweet "cones" with ice cream balls of different colors. Let him choose his favorite. There may be several shades and the task is to count pink (strawberry) or chocolate (brown). You can collect cutout images of your favorite dessert in your purse or shopping basket.
• "Who is more?". While on a walk, choose an interesting object (for example, a car). Play a game to see who can count the most cars of a certain color.
• Learn poems, sing songs. Many children remember better this way.

If the baby does not show interest in the game - do not force it. Let your fantasy work in favor of his positive emotions. Trust is the key to quality learning. Guided by their experience, adults usually already understand well how to teach a child to distinguish colors. 4 years is the age when it is time to expand and consolidate previously acquired knowledge.

Repeat, learn, understand

At this age, the baby should already know 12 basic tones: he easily chooses clothes by color, performs the tasks set by his parents, which were previously given with difficulty, he “teaches” those around him in colors. If difficulties exist, continue to persistently adhere to the methods described above. This period is the beginning of the preparatory preschool. It is important to accustom to a more assiduous and calm form of perception of knowledge (sitting at the table, using books, albums, goods for creativity). At the same time, it's time to learn shades: crimson, burgundy, terracotta, lilac, beige, cream, turquoise, salad and others. Again, there is no rush here. It is better to study slowly and longer, but qualitatively.

It has been scientifically proven that an intellectually developed person has a better and longer life. Invest in your child love and effort, and he will delight you with his success day by day.