A handful of colorful pom poms and a few colorful cups in a bin of water makes for an enticing color sorting activity!
Lia (22 months old) is just now becoming interested in learning activities, specifically counting and colors.
Color sorting was, still is, one of Elena’s (4 years old) favorite activities and one of the very first games we played together when she was a toddler.
I’m so excited to start playing learning games with Lia, and I’m glad she’s finally showing an interest in colors!
Introducing Colors to My Toddlers
Getting kids to learn their colors can be a long process.
I started teaching colors to both my girls by pointing out colors in books and on their clothes, toys, and environment from when they were babies.
At first I was just naming colors just to talk and give them lots of language input.
Sidenote: It’s never too late to start flooding your child’s brain with language. Talk to them as much as you can about anything you want! Colors, shapes, counting, and naming things are good places to start.
Over time, they began pointing to things and waiting for me to name them and say its color.
In the next stage, they started saying color words.
Both of them were 15-16 months when they started repeating color words. They weren’t identifying colors that I could tell. Just saying the words.
We have lots of colorful toys available for the kids to play with.
One day, they started pointing to different colors and trying to identify them.
Elena was really drawn to red. It was the first color she could identify accurately and always the first one she would point out.
Lia doesn’t have a color affinity, but she doesn’t seem to care much for the color green! She struggles the most with distinguishing orange from red and purple from blue.
We’re still working on it!
I know she’ll eventually get it, with time and lots of fun color sorting and naming games!
Teaching toddlers is all about patience and trying things over and over again.
More Color Sorting Activities
Here are a few color sorting activities we’ve done:
- Color Sorting Sensory Bin (This post has more info on helping toddlers learn colors.)
- Giant Color Sorting Box (This activity is great for kids who don’t like to sit still.)
- Color Sorting Activity Kit (This kit is perfect for color sorting on the go!)
- Cereal Sensory Bin (An edible bin works well for toddlers who mouth everything.)
Floating Pom Poms Sensory Bin
Adding water makes basic activities so much more interesting. I could’ve done this without water, but what’s the fun in that?
For this bin, I had Lia focus on the colors pink, blue, green, orange, and yellow.
To put this color sorting activity together, I used
- a plastic bin
- small colorful cups
- colorful pom poms
- water
- little scoops
How We PLayed
At first, I let her explore and play with the sensory bin.
The cups are from a stacking set we have, and some have holes. She really liked watching the water drip from the holes.
Eventually, I tried giving her more direction.
Me: “Lia, can you find an orange pom pom?”
Lia: *picks up an orange pom pom* “There is!”
Me: “Can you put it in the orange cup?”
We went on like this with different colors until she got bored with my game and started ignoring me.
Then I just let her resume her splashing and pouring.
We’ll try color sorting again in the future. I’m excited to watch as she learns and grows!
Challenges
What’s been your biggest challenge in teaching your toddler colors?
A big one for me is interest. My youngest wasn’t very interested in colors until recently.
I was not about to force her to sit still and learn them because that never turns out well!
I just kept pointing out the different colors we saw in books and toys and offering color-themed activities until she began showing interest.
It was a big surprise to me at how many colors she could name and how many she could identify.
It seems like she was listening and soaking everything in until she was comfortable enough to join the conversation.
If you’re making an effort to teach your kids colors, don’t give up.
They’re listening and learning, even if they don’t let you know that they are!
Your Turn to Make A Floating Pom POms Sensory Bin
Do you think you’ll try this color sorting activity and sensory bin?
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
