I need ideas for teaching colors to preschoolers?

Question

I need ideas for teaching colors to preschoolers?

Answer 1

Good questions, for colors I usually used real things to teach my kids.  For example;

The apple is Red

The leaf is Green

The banana is Yellow

And so on, so far this technique has work for me, try it and let me know if it works for you too.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Isolate the color with whatever you use so it's the only diffence between them.  Don't use a red square and a blue triangle or they may think "red" means "square" and "blue" means "triangle."  

As far as remembering things ... think of it as four steps.

1)  Introduce the name to the child.  Point to it and say, "Red."  Have them repeat it, if they feel up to it.  Point to blue and say, "Blue."  Again, if they are up for it, have them repeat it.

2)  Ask "which one is?"  This is the 2nd step to learning.  The child can identify what it is while still not being able to vocalize it.  If you have "red" and "blue," repeat step one.  "This is red...this is blue.  Which one is blue?"  It is a good idea to start with what you just said as the first thing you ask about.  

3)  I apologize to strict Montessori teachers for suggesting a 3rd step, but it seems it's different from period 2 and 3.  (If you're not a Montessori teacher, don't worry about what I just said.)  From here, I point to one of the colors and say, "Is it blue or red?"    They can usually answer well here.

4)  Mix them up behind your back then have them choose which hand they want to pick from.  If they look and seemed confused, do step 3.  If they get it, the probaby mastered it at this point.

I suggest not doing more than 2 new colors a day if your child is having difficulty remembering it.

Matt

Answer 3

I do colors for a transitions activity a lot.

"Stand up if you are wearing blue" "You can go wash up if you have red on your shirt" you get the idea.  When I do this I ask the kids to point to the color.

I think the best way is to just incorporate colors into your regular activities.  Make it fun and stress free.  I also like to play color BINGO, kids love BINGO (they have one you can order in Lakeshore).

You can also use colors in snack.  "Everyone gets three orange carrots today" "Should we have blue juice or red juice" etc.

Answer 4

i play a game with my kids, I'm not a preschool teacher but i studied early childhood education.

anyway heres the game.

I have circles with colors that we painted certain colors. Using paper plates works too. we choose two colors to study at a time.

the first part is an art project where we paint enough plates for each of us to have one plate of each color, including me.

the second part is playing a yelling and whispering game.

lets say our two colors are red and blue.

i hold up the red plate and we all yell as loud as we can RED! and hold up our red plate.

and then blue is the whisper plate, we all whisper blue! when i hold up that plate, and everybody holds up the blue plate.

we can switch which one is the yelling color and which one is the whisper color, and also we go around the table and have the kids each be the one to hold up a plate for everyone else to follow.

My kids love this and their friends do too when they come over.

(if you don't want to do an art project with it or don't have time, you can always use construction paper)

Answer 5

Introduce a color maybe every day.  For example Monday might be red.  Maybe a real apple can be brought in or a red shirt to allow the children to see the colors up front. Example: Play i spy with my little eye something that is red.  The children can take turns finding objects in the room that are red.  On  tuesday a different color might be introduced.

There are many fun activities that you can bring into the room to allow children to explore colors.  Mix some red paint and allow them to finger paint or put out a long piece of paper and have a few kids step in the paint and walk along the paper.  

Make red playdough or "flubber".

During story time read a book about colors to the children and then ask the children what color their shoes or their shirt is.

If  a child is playing and you interact and talk to the children maybe comment on the objects he/she is playing with.  "I see you are playing with the red blocks today."

Mix different paint colors and as you are mixing then have the children tell you what color they are, or point out to the children what colors you are mixing.  

There are endless ideas to help children learn colors.  

Hope th is helped, Good luck.

Answer 6

I teach twos.  Almost everyday we go through names, numbers, colors, shapes, and songs.

For colors sometimes I read books that emphasize colors-like Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Or I pick out different objects randomly and ask the kids what color they are.  My favorite is the following:  I have made a set of paper lollipops--different colors  We play a sort of game with them.  We go through and say each color and then we sing the "I'm selling lollipops" song.  It goes like this:

                "I'm selling lollipops.  I'm selling lollipops.  Bright

                 sugar candy from the corner store.  I'm selling

                 lollipops.  I'm selling lolllipops.(the lolllipops are

                 splayed out --I hold them in my hands and move

                 back and forth)

                  "And no one will ever guess where I'll stop."

                  (I them pick a child to pick a lollipop and he/she has to say the color of the one that they picked.  They get to hold onto it.  And then we repeat the song until all the lollipops are gone.

Answer 7

What worked best for me was to introduce one color a week.  I showed the child things that were that color and then the child found other things that were that color as well.  

I think the important thing was that all through the week, I would constantly be pointing out anything I saw that was the color we were working on.  It also helps to revisit colors you already looked at.

Another thing that might help is having the child color or paint things in the color.  Just seeing and having the color identified many times should be enough to at least give the child a basic understanding of it.

Answer 8

Make a pile of green things, red things, and all the other colors of the rainbow.

Answer 9

Good questions,

play i spay with my little eyes

Answer 10

Lots of ideas!  I usually teach my kids everything through many different ways.

One way is through songs like the Rainbow song (Red and yellow and pink and green, purple  and orange and blue, I can sing a rainbow......) or Color song (red, red is the color I see if you are wearing red than show it to me........). Barney also has a song about  mixing colors (if you mix blue and red it makes purple....

Another way is through stories. There are lots of stories about colors. Some are just everyday types of things, Kids like a story called "Little Blue and Little Yellow" or "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see?"  

I also play games with the kids like Twister, Candy Land, or the "Color Game". One year I had my kids make butterflies and bees and put them on straws so they could make them look like they were flying. Then I told them...the bees are buzzing around the "yellow...flowers" and all the kids with bees had to find something yellow to "buzz" around. And "the butterflies are dancing around the purple flowers...." etc. The kids loved it and it really helped them remember their colors.

Also, another good activity is to pass out a worksheet with many different objects on it (ball, cat, frog, pumpkin, elephant whatever) and ask the kids to listen carefully to what color you want them to color each object. Or you can ask the kids what color they think they should color each object (tell them they can only use one color once!)  This helped to build their vocabulary and listening skills as well as their thinking skills. Also there are many kids in my class (especially boys) who are used to using one color for EVERYTHING, and this helped them to kinda get out of their mold.   Of course, make it clear to the parents (or other teachers) that this is a "teaching" activity and not and "art" activity or they may get a bit persnickety with you about how awful it is that you are telling the kids what colors to use!

Answer 11

First show them colour crayons and teach them to recognize colours, then play the game Touch, for fun.  You say, BLUE  and they have to run around and touch something blue,  you say another colour.......and so on.  Check to make sure they are touching the right colour, it's a fun game and a good indicator they know their colours

Answer 12

you can bring in plastic fruits and ask your kids what color they are. or you could make it a game. you can set up items and call out a color and the first one to find the red object wins something.

Answer 13

My girl just came out of pr-k and they had a good time with the fruits       red-apple               if no allergies

                      yellow-banana      take fruit to kids and

                      blue-blueberries   let them sample,see

                     orange -oranges  taste,smell,touch

                     purple-grape       teaching colors,  senses

                       green-pear  kids loved it & i liked the results

Answer 14

My friend's teacher had a unique way of teaching color theory:

She had the class paint for a while, just splattering dots on paper. Then, she took the paint away, and asked the class what they had just done, waiting for "Draw!" or "Paint!". She then said, "With what?" and, if the class was unable to answer, she would unveil a diagram of the primary colors, etc.

Answer 15

look @t the baby children stores or go 2 toys R us and ask for colors books. I know this stuff because my stepmom is a child darecare person.

Answer 16

--- http://songsforteaching.com/colorssongs....

Answer 17

my favorite resource for this theme or set of themes is from a book called "colors"--there are versions for infants and toddlers and one for older preschoolers 3-5 it breaks the colors out individuallly and also combines them in a whole "rainbow" theme .....heres some of my favorite activities not necc from the book tho....

i made a set of shapes in a variety of shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle) out of various colors and materials ---each color and material texture was in the same set(ie purple felt circle, square, tri, rect.....green cotton circle, tri, square....) and then asked the children how they were the same and different

we made fruit salads---and everyone brought a piece of fruit to share with the others

we painted with a variety of shades of the "color of the day"

we had color days--wearing all the same colors, or same color shirts....

most often i introduced the colors in this order and tried to work only one or two colors in each month of the school year (not that it always worked sometimes i wound up with three)

aug-sept-----yellow, red,

oct---orange, black,

nov--brown, black,

dec--red, green, white, blue (sometimes silver/gold)

jan--white, blue, black

feb--red, pink, white

march--green, pastels(by adding white to other colors)

april--yellow, greens, purples,

may--reviews

some of the materials i used in the classrooms to help or "test" the childrens comprehension of colors or even to introduce the colors ---stringing beads, peg boards, puzzles, legos, dramatic play fruits and veggies, cars/trucks, and of course the ever present flash cards

and of course almost every teacher resource had sections on the colors to match with other topics too, and there are a great number of books to both read and use to further enhance the experience