Have you ever wondered why most early childhood programs teach children their colors and shapes early in the year? Why not letters and numbers? Why not cats and dogs? It's because color and shape are two very noticeable attributes of the world around us. When you look out your window, you may not be saying it ... but your mind is noticing and identifying the green trees, brown rectangle buildings, square windows, and blue sky. Color and shape are ways children observe and categorize what they see. These very recognizable characteristics encourage children to define and organize the diverse world around them.
These first teachings in preschool and kindergarten are basics that your child needs to know before she learns the "other basics" of reading, writing, and math. Understanding color and shape is a tool for learning many skills in all curriculum areas, from math and science to language and reading. For example, when your child learns to discern the similarities and differences between colors and shapes, she is using the same skills she needs to recognize the differences between letters and numerals.
When young children are asked to mathematically sort objects (such as leaves, rocks, shells, or keys) they usually use the most obvious attributes of color and shape, plus size, to categorize the items. When your child plays, he uses sorting and classifying skills as he observes similarities and differences of color and shape, makes comparisons, and organizes this information into piles. This seemingly simple process (that we use every week when we sort the laundry or find things in the grocery aisles) is the foundation for living in a mathematical world. Sorting by color and shape prepares your child for the future application of these skills in making graphs or searching for a book at the library.
The Importance of Color
Color is one of the first ways your preschooler makes distinctions among things she sees; color words are some of the first words she uses to describe these things. You have probably heard the pride in your child's voice as she names the colors of the balloons at the store checkout, or her delight when she realizes that a banana and pear are different shades of yellow. Helping you fold the laundry, she may naturally start sorting the socks into piles of different colors while exclaiming, "Look what I did!" These are all perfect examples of how children (and adults!) use color as a means for defining and organizing the world.
But there is much more to your child's understanding of color than "knowing his colors." While it is important for him to know the names of the colors, it is just as important for him to know what to do with them. You can help by inviting him to notice many shades, hues, and tints. Make up names for these colors together, such as lemon yellow or apple red. You will be helping him use color as a means for creative thinking and language. Invite him to use descriptive language as he tells you how one green is different from another. One 4 year old I observed proudly said, "That green is dark like a Christmas tree and this one is light like celery!"
Introduce your child to the world of shades and hues by giving her some paint swatches to explore. She can sort them into different color piles, match similar colors, and create a sequence or "color train" of hues from light to dark. Bring out the glue stick and she can cut and paste the colors to make monochromatic collages of yellows, reds, blues, etc. Find more games and activities about color.
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