Teach Your Preschoolers About Colors: Lesson Plan

Learning Colors: Teach Preschoolers & Toddlers Colors

Learning color names will take time and understanding the different shades of color will take even longer. Luckily for parents and their children, making a daily game of colors makes it fun!

Weekly Color Game: Learning Colors

At the beginning of every week, pick a color that your child will see daily, like blue.

1. Whenever you are doing something with that color, i.e.: cooking with a blue bowl, wearing a blue shirt, looking at the blue sky, playing with a blue block, ask your child what that color is. This will help your child learn their colors in a fun and inviting way.

2. Ask your child to pick out the blue Fruit Loops or blue marshmallows in his favorite ceral.

3. Look at picture books or magazines and pick out the different blues.

4. Find a story that incorporates blue into it like Blue’s Clues stories or rhymes like ‘Little Boy Blue’.

5. Make colored shapes and place magnets on the back or find some fun colored magnets to put on the refrigerator or dishwasher face for your child to play with. Ask him to make a design using blue shapes. Do this every day for the week.

6. Using all the shades of blue in the crayon box will also help your child recognize that there are different shades of blue. Let him color pictures on the color-name papers using all those shades of blue. This will also help teach about shades.

7. At the end of the week, you might plan a ‘blue’ meal or party, using blue foods or dishes. Blueberries, blue fruit drinks, blue icing on a cupcake all make for fun additions to your menu. Use blue dishes or put a nice vase of blue flowers on the table (flowers are always a nice reward for mom’s hard work, too!)

Next week, pick a new color to learn about and add that to your list. This is going to lead to some very funny moments as you realize your child is not only learning colors but also gaining a sense of humor. Your child will try to fool you sometimes, and that is also a learning experience!

About the Author:

Debbie Kleinheider, Neonatal and Pediatric nurse, Childbirth Educator, labor and postpartum doula, mother of six, and grandmother of 4 (and growing). She writes from her vast experiences and extensive knowledge on the subject of children.

Looking for More Great Learning Colors Resources? Try these fun books, movies and more to help your child learn their colors in no time!