Learning Colors {Table Time Fun}

Grant is at the developmental stage where everything is the color blue. It doesn't matter what color the object actually is, it's all blue to him. I have been working with Grant to learn his colors for quite some time but it doesn't seem to be sticking.

... Until very recently. After using puzzles, storybooks, blocks, and matching cards, I discovered a game that seems to helping him grasp the concept. It is the "blocks in cup" game (I'm not creative enough to come up with a better name).

I've been collecting plastic cups of various colors and found the blocks in a dollar bin at Target.

It's as simple as it looks and sounds:

• First I give him a block while I say what color it is and he matches it with the same color cup. 
• Next I give him another block of the same color and, this time, ask him to say what color it is. If he answers incorrectly, I say the correct color and give it to him to put in the cup. If he answers correctly we applaud and give him lots of positive affirmation (naturally he eats this up). 
• We continue until we have used up all the blocks of a particular color then we move on to another color. 
• Once he gets his colors down a little better it will be easy to adjust the game by mixing the blocks up and giving him more choices at one time.

Some days we get through only two colors and other days maybe three. I usually interrupt the game after two colors by reading a book or having snack time and then do one more color.


Repetition, for Grant, is key. I try to find different and fun ways throughout the day to "drill" him on colors.

• I label everything we use with a color (ie: If I am giving him his milk cup I say, "Here is your green cup." Or if we are picking up toys I'll ask him to hand the yellow ball to me.)
• As we are reading books I point out the different colors in the pictures.
• We play with our color-matching fish puzzle.
• {This is my favorite} From time-to-time I like to have different theme days when we incorporate a certain color (or topic) as many times as possible. For example, I had a red day where the family wore red shirts, ate off of red plates, had a snack that included a red apple and tomatoes, colored a picture of Elmo using a red crayon, while making up a song about red objects... you get the idea.

We've been stuck on colors a long time. While it's a lot of fun getting creative teaching them, I will be thrilled when Grant has finally mastered all the basic colors.