- Mom on the Clock
- Posts
- Colorful Connections
Colorful Connections
How learning colors builds more than vocabulary—it builds brains
Eliana Savitsky
September 11, 2025
✨ Hey there!
(intro line)
When your child points at something red and proudly says “blue!” you might laugh—but that mix-up is part of the process.
Learning colors isn’t just about getting names right; it’s about building the sensory, visual, and cognitive skills that form the foundation for language and self-expression.
✨ First Things First: Quick Wins for You
A few fun tools that make learning colors engaging and multi-sensory:
🧩 Color Stacking Cups – Perfect for sorting, stacking, and naming.
🎨 Play-Doh – messy way to explore colors and patterns.
📚 Color By Number – Simple coloring books with bold visuals to reinforce color names.
🧠 Why Learning Colors Matters (OT Lens)
Color recognition is a huge milestone, but it’s also deeply tied to other skills:
Visual discrimination: Learning to tell colors apart strengthens the ability to notice details—skills they’ll later use in reading, writing, and math.
Language development: Naming colors expands vocabulary and teaches descriptive language (“red car” vs. just “car”).
Cognitive categorization: Sorting by color helps kids understand grouping and organization—early math and science skills.
Emotional connection: Colors become tools for self-expression (“I feel blue,” “red means stop,” “yellow is happy”).
And here’s the best part: color learning happens naturally through play, everyday routines, and simple conversations.
The other day, when my baby and I were stacking blocks. I handed him a red one, and he looked me dead in the eye and shouted “GREEN!” before cracking up at his own joke.
At first, I thought he was being silly, but then I realized, he was experimenting. He knew colors were different, and he wanted me to notice. That little game reminded me that kids don’t just want to memorize colors, they want to use them to connect, play, and learn.
🛠️ Play Routine for Learning Colors
Here’s an easy daily “color play prescription” you can sprinkle into your week:
Play-Doh Creations
Offer 2–3 colors of play-doh
Roll, squish, and build together while naming colors.
Bonus: mix colors to see what new ones appear!
Shape & Color Puzzles
Use puzzles with bright-colored shapes.
Ask your child to find “the red circle” or “the blue square.”
Builds both color recognition and shape matching.
Storytime with Red Hat, Blue Hat
Read Sandra Boynton’s silly classic.
Emphasize colors as you go (“Oh no, blue hat!”).
Use it as a chance to point to matching colors around the room.
🔬 Why It Works
Colors are everywhere, which makes them the perfect teaching tool. By tying them into play, art, puzzles, and stories, you’re helping your child’s brain strengthen connections across multiple areas—visual, motor, language, and social. The result? Stronger skills that go way beyond just “red” or “blue.”
Wrapping Up for Today
Learning colors isn’t a flashcard exercise—it’s an adventure in noticing, naming, and connecting. Whether you’re rolling playdough snakes, fitting colorful puzzle pieces, or laughing through Red Hat, Blue Hat, you’re giving your child the tools to see and describe their world with confidence.
Here’s to brighter days (and fewer “green reds” 😆),
Eliana
|
Reply