Child development experts agree that toddlers can usually start to grasp the concept of color recognition and distinction around 18-24 months. They also agree that parents and caregivers should introduce colors throughout infancy whenever opportunities naturally arise (“This bus is the color yellow, just like this rubber duck.”)
So, how do you teach a toddler to know their colors? Having just gone through this process with my 18-month-old, L, I suggest two things: starting slow and having fun!
Starting Slow
We’ve always talked about non-defining attributes like color, but we didn’t make it a big deal until around that 18-month mark. This is when I introduced the concept of sorting by colors. We started with two very different colors (blue and red). You don’t want to start with anything too close in color (like yellow and orange) because different shades can be too similar and cause confusion for toddlers.
We started with two bowls (bought at… you guessed it! - The Dollar Tree!) and some plastic, colored counting bears. These bears have been around forever. In fact, these are the ones that my mom used to teach me my colors with over 30 years ago! They’re so useful that they are still available to purchase today.
I started by just talking to L about what I was about to do. I showed her that I had a blue bowl, a red bowl, and some colored bears. I shared with her that I wanted to sort the bears by color. I started by demonstrating how to do this with one bear at a time.
I then handed her one blue bear and asked her if she could put it in the blue bowl with the other fellow blue bears. I did the same process with a red bear. She caught on quickly.
(Note: If she didn’t catch on quickly, I would not have pushed it. You never want to push a concept too early, before the child is ready. This could cause frustration and disinterest. It’s pretty easy to tell if and when a child is ready for an activity like this. Be sure to pay attention to their cues!)
I didn’t want to push too much too quickly, so we only celebrated the sorting of the blue and red bears that day. On the next day, I took the bowls and bears out again. She quickly and independently sorted them. We then walked around the house and yard, looking at other things that are sorted (some by color, like socks in a drawer, and some just by the object, like books on a bookshelf). This helped make the connection that objects in our everyday world can be sorted in different ways. When we got back inside, I asked L if she could find other objects around the house to add to our blue and red bowls. I modeled this for her by finding a red puffball to add to the red bin.
She found buttons, blocks, and even a shoelace to add to her bowls. She was so proud of herself. She would’ve continued this all day!
I realized she was catching onto this whole color sorting concept pretty quickly. So, the next day, I decided she was ready to add in a third color. I used these colored bowls that come with matching colored coin chips.
At first, I only put out the blue, red, and green bowls, along with the matching chips. Again, I modeled for her how to sort the coins by color. I added in one additional color per day. By the end of the week, she was easily sorting the coins.
It was fun to watch her independently explore color recognition, too. One day, she wanted to play with her Play-Doh, so I set her up and then “walked away” (Not really - I’d never leave her alone with Play-Doh so young. However, I wanted to let her think that I wasn’t watching, so she could freely explore on her own. Independent play is so important to toddler development). She decided to get the color sorting bowls off the shelf and sort her Play-Doh by color. She even matched the Play-Doh lid and the colored coins to each bowl. She did this all on her own!
She had purple and pink Play-Doh but she didn’t have a bowl to match these two colors. When she realized this, I asked her “What should we do?” Rather than just offering her a purple and pink bowl, I let her think about it. She knew exactly what to do. She walked into the kitchen and pointed to where we keep reusable silicone muffin liners. In the set, there’s a purple and a pink liner that matched her Play-Doh perfectly (notice them in the photo below, far left). Kids will amaze you if you give them a chance!
Making It Fun
Once L understood the concept of color recognition, I offered her some more sorting activities for her to explore. These were some of her favorites!
1. Puff Ball Sort - This was super easy to create. It was made from materials we already had around the house. I took a plastic ice cube tray and placed colored dot stickers randomly at the bottom of each compartment. I offered puffballs in matching colors and she sorted them into the tray. This was also great fine motor practice! (You could even challenge your little learners by having them use tweezers to sort the puffballs by color.)
2. Color Hunt - I laminated four pieces of colored paper and rounded the corners (using my favorite tool). I challenged L to find objects around her play area to match each colored mat. This helped her connect color recognition to real-world objects. It was also a great way to have L realize that colors can come in different shades. It was a great indoor activity for a rainy afternoon. We will use these colored mats again!
3. Monster Shapes - After reading The Color Monster, we made these Monster Shapes. They took a little longer to create, but L and I had a lot of fun together making these! They were worth the time and effort. First, we took felt and cut two identical shapes from each color. We then folded each shape in half to cut a slit for the mouth. We finally added google eyes. She loved matching the monsters. It was a great way to start introducing shapes vocabulary and recognition too! (Shapes recognition usually happens closer to 24 months.)
4. Wooden Stacking Rings - This is a toy that we already had, but L became very interested in it after learning about her colors. It’s also great fine motor practice. I was even able to introduce the foundation of creating patterns to her using it (making a tower of red, yellow, red, yellow, etc.).
We are still working on saying each color’s name, but so far, L seems to really enjoy recognizing and organizing objects by color. Introducing this concept slowly, and making it fun for her has helped a ton! What are some of your little learner’s favorite color recognition activities? I would love to read about some of your creative ideas in the comments below!
Thank you for reading! I hope you continue to follow along to find (and share!) inspiration, information, and innovation! :-)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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