Colors can be the most fun unit you teach to preschoolers. You can use flash cards and manipulatives, but you'll be equally successful just using the surroundings to get your point across. One basic method is to take a walk with the children and ask them to point out yellow items at first, such as flowers, cars and buildings. Then switch to blue, red and whatever other hues you can fit in. The kids will learn to identify colors and realize how many varieties surround us in daily life.
Mix It Up
Art activities are a natural and creative way to teach about colors. Offer children the three primary colors of paint and let them combine two at a time, either using their hands or paintbrushes. Then let them mix more colors in to see the results, although the end result is usually a dark mud tone.
Play dough and clay also make great learning tools for studying color. Start with lumps of primary colors and let the students guess what new color will form when they mix red and yellow, blue and yellow or blue and red. Or instruct the children to create faces with their clay, applying different colors for the mouth, nose, eyes, ears and hair.
Sorting and Other Games
Kids love games, so why not play with the study of colors? Sorting games are among the simplest---children get a pile of cards marked with different colors and separate them into a blue stack, a red stack, a yellow one and so on. You can also play color bingo and color dominoes, using different hues in place of numbers.
Make a variety of easy games on paper that children can play on their own or in pairs. Put them in folders so kids can take them out and use them in their spare time. Matching games are a good example. Draw different-colored birds (or houses or cars) on a large piece of paper and laminate it. Then cut out individual birds in the same colors as the ones on the "board." The children can place the individual birds on top of the laminated ones that have a matching color.
Color Songs
Reinforce the visual study of color with songs and rhymes. For instance, sit in a group and recite, "The colors all have a taste and a smell---Johnny, it's your time to tell." Johnny then tells his favorite color and what it tastes or smells like---he might say, "I like red and it tastes like strawberries." The group recites the verse again, and each student shares a favorite color.
Catchy songs are another great way to keep the students thinking about the names of colors. If you can't sing on key, use CDs or find songs on websites such as SongsForTeaching.com.
Tags: different colors, favorite color, individual birds, primary colors, yellow blue