How to Teach My Daughter Her Colors?

Updated on May 04, 2011
J.T. asks from Philadelphia, PA
20 answers

How did you teach your almost 3yr old to remember his/her colors? Did you use flashcards, coloring books, etc? I'm also trying to help by letting my daughter seperate the laundry weekly.She just doesn't seem interested in any color besides blue, greeen, and red. However, she loves counting any and everything she see. Any ideas? Have a wonderful day.

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S.R.

answers from Phoenix on

I made a fun game with it. I went to Home Depot and got the Disney paint chips. I made a matching memory game out of it. He liked it becuase it was in the shape of Mickey. Try it out! Good luck!

2 moms found this helpful
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D.W.

answers from Philadelphia on

My son and I look at a book that my mom gave him that goes over colors,shapes,numbers and opposites, he loves it. I used to ask him what color is this or that? Now he tells me I want for example, I want a red popsicle. It sounds like she likes to learn. Make it fun. do not make it a chore.

Updated

My son and I look at a book that my mom gave him that goes over colors,shapes,numbers and opposites, he loves it. I used to ask him what color is this or that? Now he tells me I want for example, I want a red popsicle. It sounds like she likes to learn. Make it fun. do not make it a chore.

1 mom found this helpful

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J.G.

answers from San Antonio on

what are the politics bs?

Well my son just turned 3. He knows all his colors already. Just while you are doing normal things, mention the color.

"Today let's wear your red shirt. Or do you want to wear the blue one?" and hold up both and point out which color is which.

"Oooh. Look at our dinner. We have green peas, brown meat, and yellow noodles." again, pointing to each one.

"Which grocery cart do you want? The one that's green, black, or yellow?"

We also buy the multi-colored rigatoni. It comes in green, orange, and I guess it's a tan/yellow. My son picks one up and says that he's going to eat the green noodle.

We watched the Meet the Colors videos a few times (preschoolprepco.com). We rented them for free from our library.

We read a lot of books about colors.

NO I did not do flashcards. He does color a lot with his crayons and I ask him what color he has. He loves/loved M&Ms. I'd point out what color he had and he'd have to tell me the color before he got to eat it. Nerds worked too - name the color before he ate the rainbow colored nerds.

Color is everywhere - so just point it out as often as you think to.

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S.H.

answers from Hartford on

Just make a point of using the names of the colors as you describe every day objects - Do you want your orange or purple cup? Mommy is wearing a brown sweater. Look at the white doggie with the black spots. Do you want to wear your gray shirt with your turquoise pants? That's a gold car. When my son was first started to learn his colors, I would sit next to him as he played and talk about the colors of his toys - quizzing him as he played. We also read stories and pointed out the different colors in the illustrations. Now, we just talk about colors as they come up naturally in conversation.

2 moms found this helpful
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M.T.

answers from New York on

I didn't really "teach" them, I just pointed out what color things were and compared things of different color ("Look, the apples are red and the bananas are yellow" "Let's buy 4 red apples and 2 green apples"). Also, there are plenty of good books for preschoolers that include colors! I think that reading and exploring their natural environment are great opportunities for learning :)

2 moms found this helpful
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J.B.

answers from St. Louis on

With my daughter she loved the flash cards, crayons, and painting. Now with my son he learned his colors by playing I Spy while in the car.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

I just included colors in things we do. I have a book where you flip the pages and the colors change (just a clear overlay) and I also tried to point out when we're wearing a pink shirt or a green shirt or blue socks. Etc. In fact, I let DD mix match her socks if she tells me what colors she wants to wear that day. I do the same with shapes and letters. Just exposed her to the concept and she got it. If I tell her a recipe needs 3 eggs, we count them. She might say, "No, momma, we need one more!" if I stop at 2. If your daughter likes to count, ask her to count the green blocks or the blue blocks, etc.

1 mom found this helpful

T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I pointed out the color of everyday things. Blue car. White cloud. Red Heart. We also pointed out the colors on every page of the books we read.

1 mom found this helpful
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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

I just taught my kids while doing everyday things, and with picture books.

They knew their colors, by 3 years old and their shapes.

1 mom found this helpful
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D.A.

answers from Philadelphia on

I never did flash cards or anything like that. With my 3 kids I always just put a color to everything we did. Here is your red cup, lets put on our yellow shirt, white van, etc... I would also play games in parking lots while doing errands such as do you see a red car, do you see a black car. The grocery store is full of great colors!! I always found this way to be a more natural way to learn without them realizing it.

1 mom found this helpful
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E.M.

answers from Honolulu on

We would do special weekly meals that were only one color for the whole meal. Purple was grapes, eggplant, and mash potato with food coloring! I was really fun!

1 mom found this helpful
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C.P.

answers from Albuquerque on

Ha! My girl is 2.5 and she's just about the same way! If I ask her what color something is, it is always whatever her current favorite color is (this week, yellow)! She just says, "mama, it's yellow!" and starts laughing! She knows that it's really red, or blue, or whatever, but she's stubborn that way. I know that she knows her colors because if I catch her off guard (when she forgets that she's "teasing" me), and ask her to give me the blue/red/purple whatever, she will get it right every time! She is also very good at counting. I do what others have suggested--point out the colors of all kinds of things. And we have conversations about how even though these 2 things are different colors, they are both BLUE! :) ("No mama, that one is purple!")

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L.D.

answers from Las Vegas on

The grocery store is the perfect place to teach toddlers colors. You know how they like to be mother's little helper's at this age? Well, while you are ate the store, ask her to hand you two red apples, or the can of soup with the blue label, or the yellow box of noodles. I think that if you make it more interactive, she will be more likely to engage.

Also, the next time the two of you go to the park or on a walk, make it into a color scavenger hunt. While you are at the park or on your walk, the two of you (really her) need to find something green, something brown, something . . . you get the idea. Collect your found items in a ziploc bag and you can review the contents later when you get home.

I think that if you make discovering colors fun, she won't recognize that you are actually getting her to learn something new and she won't fuss about it.

Hope this helps.

1 mom found this helpful

T.B.

answers from Bloomington on

I, as a former teacher, have bulletin board style crayon shaped labels on our playroom wall. Show her a color then go to the grocery and try to find foods with that color. You can take pictures of the foods and her eating them, then put them up under each color label. Any time you apply it to her life and she experiences it, it will be a meaningful learning experience for her.

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L.H.

answers from Denver on

My son and I used to play a game while picking up toys in his room. By putting all the red blocks and toys in one pile and the purple or whatever color toys in another. Or while walking with him would ask him what color something was or say hey Look at that pretty pink flower? Can you say pink?. Best thing was the toys though. he loved that. Had so much fun looking for toys the same color.

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J.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

I never specifically taught colors to my kids but I did read to them from the day I bought them home from the hospital. There are a ton of good books. Do you have the book "Brown Bear, brown Bear What do you See?
I was surprised when I discovered my daughter knew her colors at 15 months! She could not speak yet but she could hand me the color marker or crayon I asked for.
I would try reading color books everyday too.

1 mom found this helpful

K.I.

answers from Los Angeles on

Mostly just through talking and pointing out the colors...sometimes through her clothes selections 'Do you want to wear your pink shirt or your yellow shirt'? Stuff like that!

~My daughter learned most her colors while painting! She loves to paint and use ALL the colors:)

**I admit that when I became an Auntie for the 1st time (I was only 17) I taught my nephew (our very first kid) his colors with the mini M&M's!

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K.B.

answers from Philadelphia on

Your child would be the perfect age for the FREE program Letter Of The Week at www.letteroftheweek.com!

They set up free lessons to learn letters, numbers, colors and shapes. You focus on one letter/number/color/shape per week.

If you're interested in just colors you can do one color per week and post a colored construction paper on the wall with the word on it, like red. And then all week do things associated with that color, like eat apples, go to an apple orchard, go see red fire trucks and so on. Only talk about that one color all week. Then turn to another easy color for the next week and find anything in the house and outside of the house in trips that are the next color. Review the previous weeks as you go.

With all of that said, kids learn at their own pace. Repetition is the key and consistency. Soon you'll see if finally kicking in.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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L.M.

answers from New York on

I never " taught" my girls their colors. When we would play with blocks, I would say, let's put the red block on top of the green block. Or ask, could you please bring mommy her blue slippers. It was something that just developed naturally.

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C.K.

answers from San Antonio on

When I was teaching my son his colors I never sat down with the purpose of teaching him. I told him the color of things and that is how he learned. For example when I dressed him I would say "you're wearing your green shirt today", or "these are your red socks". I did the same thing with his toys, especially when it was time to pick them up. I'd say things like "put your blue truck on the shelf," or "get that orange book on the floor."

That is all I ever did to teach him colors. And if your daughter isn't interested in all the colors that is okay. That doesn't mean she isn't learning other colors, just that she has her favorites.

1 mom found this helpful
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