Saturday, March 8, 2014

Toddler Activities: Color Sorting

Color sorting is a huge critical thinking activity. You're teaching math, color, fine motor and verbal skills. 

Activity should be 10 minutes. Keep these learning activities fast and simple. 

What you need: 

Color objects. We purchased these bears on amazon HERE


Introduce one color at a time:

 day 1. Red. 

Questions and statements to address:

"This bear is Red"
"Can you say Red" 
"Put the Red Bear in the Red Cup"


Day 2: 

add 1 blue bear 

Say "this is a blue bear" "is this a red bear? No, this is a blue bear"

and ask them to "put the red bear in the red cups" if they put a blue bear in a red cup, say: "oh no, the blue bear is in the red cup." "Can you take the blue bear in the blue cup?"

Repeat
Ask lots of questions to help them think...

After 5 minutes, introduce the blue cup and ask, "can you put the blue bear on the blue cup?"



Always use positive reinforcement! 

"Good job", "you did it!", "so smart" this helps build self esteem and will motivate them to keep going. 

By day 3... I gave hima blue cup and red cup.. Say:
"here is a blue cup and here is a red cup" 
"Can you put the blue bear in the blue cups" 
"Can you put the red bear in the red cup?"

Also:

Hand 2 red bears and 1 blue bear and ask: 
"Can you put 2 red bears into the red cup?" Etc.. 

Once they grasp the concept, you can introduce a new color in 1 week, we were able to recognize red, blue, yellow and green.


He really thinks about the colors as he sorts. You can really see him processing the difference. There are days where he will put the colors incorrectly then gives me a "just kidding" smirk and re correct himself. It's hilarious! 


Adding green was a little more complicated it blends in with both yellow and blue. 

Remember, when introducing a new color, talk about the color and only give 1-2 objects of that color to sort. Build up from there. I noticed that it's overwhelming if I give him all the bears at once. Instead, I would give him handfuls at a time. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you can see videos. 


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