Early Color Learning Games: Babies & Toddlers

Thanks for this wonderful guest post from Kristy on early color learning games for babies and toddlers!Color learning games can be fun to do with your baby or toddler. It is a great way to get them started on learning the differences between colors. You do not have to wait until they are preschool age to start. Here are a few color learning games that you can do with your baby or toddler!

Early Color Learning Games

 These are three of my favorites for starting early, casual color learning.

A giant color wheel

We’ve been doing this since our little guy started to scoot around on his belly and then crawl.  Place a blanket on the floor or use a larger open carpeted area.  Collect toys and baby safe items from around the house that fit the basic colors of red, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange.  Cluster the like colored items together in groups that are about 1 foot part, just enough that they might recognize the separation.  We use stuffed animals, books, sippy cups, blocks, etc. Look for items in various shapes, sizes and textures,  but make sure they are safe.  Encourage your little one to play with the different piles throughout the day and make connecting references such as ‘this duck is yellow, just like the sun.’   Not only will this help your child to learn the color but the example will help them understand items that are that specific color.

Colored Ice cubes

The night before you would like to work on this activity make up a few trays of ice cubes.  Add a couple drops of food coloring to each one, and then let freeze completely.  When ready to play, this can be enjoyed in the bath, a water table or a large plastic mixing bowl.  Fill the larger containers with warm water and then let them play with a few cubes of the ice at a time.  Starting with just one color will help them in the learning process. As they get older you can mix blue and yellow to make green to learn about mixing.  Make sure to stay with your little one at all times and that they do not try to put the ice in their mouth to avoid choking.  They’ll be able to hold the ice as it melts and feel the difference between warm and cold as well as seeing the dark purple ice turn all of the water into a lighter purple. 

Learning through our bellies

Pick one color for a snack time or whole day of snacks and focus on that.  Orange is a fantastic color for this type of activity. This is great for older children that do well with feeding themselves.  You could choose to have slices of clementine, a few cubes of butternut squash, carrots, mango, carrots, peppers, peaches, papaya, sweet potato, cantaloupe, cauliflower, pumpkin puree, tomatoes, orange juice, etc. Clearly there is no shortage of tasty options! During snack time talk about how some of the shades are bright, darker, pale and so on. This is also a great opportunity to discuss textures. Just like always stay with your little one while they’re eating and check with your doctor before starting new foods.You may also like:15 Items to have in your Diaper BagBaby Safety Tips Make sure you checkout the Frugal Fanatic Facebook page and follow us on Pinterest. Please share  in the comments below the different color learning games that you play with you children to help them learn.