Why you should never ask ‘what colour is it?’

For the same reasons as you don’t want a boring colour display you should never ask the question ‘what colour is it?’! If a child knows the colours the question is pointless. If a child doesn’t know then you are not teaching him anything new except reinforcing the fact that he doesn’t know. Children can develop a phobia which completely blocks learning. It’s far better to name colours yourself as part of general conversations.

Playing games where they have to throw a colour dice ,spin a spinner to collect objects to match their coloured  plate, box, serviette, dish etc  makes learning fun. A number dice will tell them how many they can collect. Differentiate by making your own dice, writing appropriate numbers or spots onto cubes. Collections of counters, bottle tops, marbles, beads, jewels, feathers or coloured sticks etc can then be used. They can then be counted to see who has collected the most. Even the youngest children can be helped to count ten and see how many tens they’ve got.

Another idea is to set a timer for a few seconds and  pick up as many objects of their colour as they can before it rings. If you want to know if they know their colours ask them to find a particular coloured objects as part of a hiding game. If they bring the wrong colour praise them for bringing the correct object and tell them what colour it is. Well done you found the mouse! It’s a red mouse.