There are so many ways to make learning colors fun for kids! Color activities have been one of my favorite activities to set up! From color Quick and easy that are no-mess to sensory bins and even art and crafts using puffy paint and other fun materials, learning colors can be a lot of fun!
When I wanted to start teaching my son colors I didn’t know where to start. Now, after a lot of trial and error, testing different activities and creating my own I have the perfect mix of activities that will help you teach colors at home.
If you are looking for HOW TO TEACH COLORS? Start with the ultimate guide to teaching colors at home and learn the 3 steps to do with each of the below activities to get your toddler to feel confident when learning colors.
Need a quick activity? Try these quick and easy Color Sorting Activities
Let’s be honest! We are not always in the mood to create fancy activities that are either messy or require lots of materials. For those days, I use quick and simple activities. Want to remember these activities? Get the PDF Quick & Easy Color Activity Pack or the Color bundle and have tons of activities to practice and learn colors.
You might also be interested in Color Red Lesson Plan – a full week of activities to learn the color red
I like to present these color sorting activities over a tray, but you do not have to do that. The tray makes it more appealing and my son tends to gravitate more towards participating when presented in a tray. I do this with almost all activities I do indoors.
use construction paper
Use construction paper to sort color toys. Place the papers side by side on the floor and provide a basket with toys, card pieces from your learning binder, color popsicle sticks, etc… and show your toddler how to sort them by color.
Use color stickers
Have you seen the dot stickers at the dollar store? They are meant to be used for garage sales but they are the perfect little material for little hands to practice colors.
Directions
- Choose a coloring page and a color you want to teach. One-color per page.
- Cut up strips of the sticker dots to only expose one color
- Remove the backing of the sticker to make it easier to remove the dot sticker.
- Present one coloring page with its corresponding color at a time.
- Present the sticker on the left-hand side and the color sheet on the right. (Because we want to start working on those pre-reading skills about learning to read left to right)
Use Color Cups
Materials
- Tray
- 6 Color Cups
- Matching Pom-Poms
Directions
- In a shallow tray, place the 6 color cups & matching pom-poms.
- First, do this activity yourself and later let your kid do it.
- Pick up one pom-pom and drop it inside the cup of the same color.
- When you pick up a pom-pom, say its color name.
- Then, let your kid do the same. When he/she picks up a popsicle, ask him/her to tell the color name too.
- Repeat the same with the remaining pom-poms.
use color Craft Sticks
Color craft sticks can be found at the dollar store in the craft section or at your local craft shop. Pair them up with any other element that is the same color and you have a fun matching activity.
Materials
- Tray
- Color Cups (like this set from Amazon)
- Matching popsicle sticks (Available in Amazon)
Directions
- In a shallow tray, place the cups & popsicle sticks of different colors.
- Show this activity to your kid and then ask him/her to do this.
- Pick up one of the popsicles and place it inside the cup of the same color.
- When you pick up a popsicle, say its color name.
- Once you have placed all the popsicle sticks according to their colors in the cups.
- Then, let your kid do the same. When he/she picks up a popsicle sticks, ask him/her to tell the color name too.
- Repeat the same with the remaining popsicle sticks
Use Party Cups
This was discovered by chance! I had purchased these cups because I was tired of washing too many cups at home and needed a break. As I was putting them away, I had opened the box to take a few. My son was so attracted to them I decided to put two of each color. See if he could name and match each color. It was so much fun!
We kept that activity out for the whole week he loved it so much!
Materials
- Party cups of different colors (2 of each) Available at your local supermarket
Directions
- Collect a few water cups of different colors from your kitchen or superstore.
- Make sure that you have a pair of each color.
- Do this activity yourself and let your kid watch you and learn how to do it.
- The purpose is to match the cups and stack them one over another.
- Once you’ve created stacks of all the cups, ask your kid to remove the cups from one over another.
- Then, allow him/her to pick up a cup and place it over the cup of the same color.
- When your kid picks up a cup, say the color name of the cup.
- Repeat it with all the remaining cups.
Use a Recycled Egg Carton
I love DIY toys toys! And this one was a total experiment that turned out toddler approved!
Materials
- Egg carton
- Matching pom-poms
Directions
- Take an empty egg carton, turn it over, make holes in each bucket, and mark the edges with different colors.
- Take matching pom-poms in a cup.
- You need to show this activity to your kid so he/she can learn how to do this.
- Pick up a pom-pom and drop it in the matching
- When you pick a pom-pom, say its color name.
- Now, allow your kid to do the same.
- Allow your kid to do this until all the holes are filled with the matching pom-poms.
Use Color Toys
Materials
- Tray
- Silicone Muffin Cups (This set from Amazon has the bears and cups )
- Assorted color toys
Directions
- Take a shallow tray, place the muffin cups on the edge of the tray.
- Place assorted color toys mixed in the center of the tray.
- Show your toddler (without talking) how to sort out the toys.
- Allow your toddler to mimic the behavior Repeat activity by saying the color name of each toy as it is placed into the correct matching muffin cup.
Use Construction Paper
This one is a great activity if you choose two colors that could be similar or that your toddler seems to confuse. You can add to the challenge by adding different shades of the same color to be sorted out. In this case, we chose blue and purple.
Materials
- Tray (This one is the Large Montessori tray from this pack available in Amazon)
- Construction Paper
- Large Pom -Poms (available in Amazon)
Directions
- In a shallow tray, place a cup filled with pom-poms, and place two different construction papers.
- Pick up a pom-pom ball from the cup and paste it one the matching construction paper.
- When you pick up a pom-pom ball, say its color name and then paste on the same colored paper.
- Then, let your kid do the same.
- Repeat it until all the pom-poms are pasted on the matching construction papers.
Use Wooden Toys
Materials
- Tray
- Peg Dolls (Unpainted available in Amazon – You can paint your own and save money as I did)
- Color Rings (Unpainted available in Amazon – save money and DIY them)
Directions
- In a shallow tray, place the peg dolls and color rings.
- Show this activity to your kid and then ask him/her to do this.
- Pick up a peg doll from the collection and place it inside the ring of the same color.
- When you pick up a doll, say its color name.
- Once you have placed all the peg dolls
- Inside the matching color rings, ask your kid to pick the peg dolls and keep in their place.
- Then, let your kid do the same.
- When he/she picks up a doll, ask him/her to tell the color name too.
Use A Mystery Color Bag
Materials
- Tray
- Bag
- Color Rings or Color Toys
Directions
- Collect the material in an empty tray, so everything is in the sight of your kid.
- Hide all the toys/color rings in the bag.
- Ask your kid to take out the toys one by one.
- When your kid takes out a ring, say the color of the ring so your kid can recognize colors.
- You can do this activity another way; tell your kid to look into the bag and take out a ring of a particular color.
- Another way is to take out a toy from the bag and let your kid say the color name.
Use Pipe Cleaners
Materials
- Tray (This white one is from Amazon is a set of 3)
- Colander (This one is from the Dollar store)
- Pipe cleaners (From the Dollar store too)
Directions
- Take an empty tray and place colander & pipe cleaners in it.
- First, you need to this activity yourself, so your kid can learn it.
- Thread the cleaners through the colander one by one. You’ll need to weave in & out of the holes.
- To ensure that your toddler can concentrate, tape the colander on a surface and then weave through the holes.
- When you’re done with the activity, let your toddler pull out the pipe cleaners one by one from the colander.
- Then, allow him to weave the pipe cleaners through the colander holes.
Use a muffin tin
Materials
- Muffin tin
- •Colored circles to fit your muffin tin (construction paper)
- Colored objects to sort like pom poms
Directions
Place or tape circles in your tin and show your child what to do. Then sort away!
Final thoughts
Learning colors can be a lot of fun and it doesn’t have to take too much time. Set these quick and easy activities each morning and spend 5-10 minutes playing and reviewing the colors. Switch up the colors shown on the activities to practice all the colors of the rainbow.
For a complete program of activities both easy and sensory driven, get the color bundle and your toddler will know their colors while playing and having fun!
