Have you ever wondered why most early childhood programs teach children their colours and shapes early in the year? What makes the topic of favorite colours so important? Psychology studies suggest that colour selection can influence mood and behaviour, stimulate the brain and body and even affect one’s health.
- Colour is one of the first ways your preschooler makes differences among things she sees. Colours actually speak to the kids.
- Psychologists have linked colour with brain development, increased attentiveness and even motor development.
- The ability to identify colours builds right from the age of 18 months. The earlier they start, the better it is for their learning abilities. In fact colour identification is considered a milestone to mark a child’s cognitive development.
- In school, the colourful environment can help in detail orientation of the concept. Hence it is a very important learning that happens with colours.
Why do kids care so much about favorite colors?
- Children love looking at colourful visuals. Picture books organized by shape and colour seem to interest kids.
- Colours stimulate the brain and body and even affect one’s health. Colourful environment have a positive impact on your child’s psyche.
- Having a favorite colour makes her unique, just as having a favorite game or place does. It’s about the ownership to choose and display of her choices.
- Children might change their colour preferences from time to time. Some children relate it to their favorite possessions. Persistence in the choice of colour exhibits a personality characteristic. The more she sticks to one favourite colour, the more likely she is to have a sense of self.
How to teach colors?
- Experiencing colours in different ways helps cement the concept in the brain. Exposure to different material of the same colour helps in stimulating senses. The more experiences your child is exposed to, the better they will understand the concept.
- For kids to recognise a colour, they need to have accumulated hundreds of information pieces that help them define that colour concept. This needs repetitive and varied exposure.
- Remember that receptive language comes before expressive language. Kids will be able to point out the right colour long before they can say its name. Most children can name at least one by 36 months.
