My little Milo loves colors. He really started loving them when he was a little over 18months. I was actually surprised at how quickly he caught on to the different colors. I am a true believer in letting your kids determine what they want to learn when they are this young. I think if you try to push them into learning something they aren't ready for, it just causes frustration...I am sure that is written in a book somewhere but it's mainly my own philosophy. Anyways!! Teaching colors has been so much fun for me. Of course Pinterest has a hundred different ideas on themed color days and activities you can do. I am all for simple, easy, cheap and minimal mess. This is what I would resort to doing when I would talk about different colors.
1. I took a trip to the dollar store and found a bunch of random objects of different colors. I would then color sort the items into different baggies so when we talked about the color red I would just bring out the red bag.
2. Milo always had fun looking through the bag of different objects. Every object he pulled out I would repeat the color over and over. He would eventually start saying the color name with me. I would then go around the house and hide all of the objects from the bag and have him go look for them. Let's be honest he would follow me around and hide the objects with me and then go and find them when I was done. Also, when I say hide I mean place the objects in plain sight all around the house. Every time he would find the object we would shout out the colors name.
3. Water painting! This is seriously one of my favorite activities, because it is very minimal in the mess department. All you need is a cup of water, colored construction paper (obviously the color you are trying to teach) and a paint brush. Dip the paintbrush in water and have your kids go crazy painting water on their construction paper.
4. Color bath. I got this idea from "Busy Toddler:Making it to naps one activity at a time" Milo really loved this. He loves taking baths and is it bad when I just need him to stay busy and contained I resort to bath time? I will just cozy up on the bathroom floor or counter and get some projects done as my little fish just plays away. Any-hoo...food coloring in the bath tub is genius and makes bath time even more special. I have never had a problem with the food coloring dying his skin or my tub. I promise this is not urine making this bath water yellow...but after this photo was taken it may have gone a darker shade of yellow. ;) After I dyed the bathtub I would throw all of the items from the color baggie we used earlier in with him and just let him play away.
Repetition is your best friend when teaching these cute toddlers! I would constantly be saying the colors name as we were doing the activity and having him say it with me. If you want to get some cute giggles try seeing how many different ways you can say the color...opera voice, cowboy, robot, alien...get creative and have fun! :)