Colors is a topic that all kids learn. My son learned his colors around 16 months with a combination of fun activities. I remember spreading out various colored poms poms on the floor and asking him to bring me specific colors. He got them all correct! He learned because I used in-depth fun learning to naturally expose him to it. In-depth learning is exposing your child to new concepts in various ways such as sight, hearing, and touch. The activities below will help you incorporate these types of learning techniques.
Let’s get started with learning colors in a fun way!

Sorting
Sorting is a great way for kids to learn colors. Below are some ways to accomplish this at home.
- Gather various colored items in your home such as blue, yellow, green, purple, red etc.
- Help your child to put all items of the same color together.
- For example put all the red items together.
- My son, Cory, likes to sort his toy cars and balls.
- Make a game of it by racing all the green cars, then blue cars, and so on.
- You can also create a ball race between the various colors.

Color Day!
Pick a color day in your household.
- Pick a day where everyone in the family wears the same color clothes.
- Everyone can wear the same color shirt, pants, or socks.
- This activity is like St. Patrick’s Day where everyone wears green.
- However, you will pick a different day of the week to wear a certain color.
- For example, on Monday everyone wears a blue shirt and then on Tuesday everyone wears a red shirt.

Pick the Color
This activity was actually how I found out my son knew all his colors. This is a fun one for the kids.
- You may use various colored items such as pom poms, crayons, balls etc.
- We used poms poms for this activity.
- Spread them on the floor.
- Ask your child to bring you various colored items. For example say to your child…
- “Please give me the blue poms poms”
- “Please bring the yellow poms poms”
- Optional: you may alternate roles with your child and have them ask you to bring them certain colored poms poms.

Call It in the Real World
Children don’t have to be in school or at home to learn colors. It can be done anywhere. Try the activities below…
- While you are outside, pick a color you will identify such as green.
- Identify with your child green grass, cars, and tree leaves
- While running errands, identify various colors on signs or advertisements
- While at the grocery store, identify various colors of fruits and vegetables.

Color Hunt
This activity encourages children to get physical and learn simultaneously.
- Hide the same color items in one room or all over your home.
- Have your children find the items you just hid and identify the colors.
- Optional: You may hide different color items around your home as well.
Digital Media
My son and I love watching educational videos on our television. At times after dinner, we dance, sing songs or just watch videos about colors from YouTube. Below are YouTube videos about colors.
- Color’s Song 2
- Best Learning Video for Toddler Learning Colors with Crayon Surprises
- Busy Beaver Color Song
- Sesame Street Colors and Shapes
- Monster Street Vehicles Color Show
Paint
Being able to use colors to create pictures is a great learning tool for children.
- Once your child learns certain colors have them paint a picture using that color.
- You may also create stories using the picture.
- For example, paint a yellow stick man playing with a blue stick man and write a story about it.

Make Color Potions
Making potions is a great hands-on activity for kids. Below is how to do it.
- Make a simple potion by mixing glitter, various food coloring, vinegar, and baking soda.
- Your child will see bubbles while creating this chemical reaction.

Make Slime
- Mix water, cornstarch and washable paint until it feels like glue.
- You may use food coloring instead of paint.
- Let your child play in the slime.

Books with Movement
Before my son knew the colors, I would go to the library weekly and get books about colors. Reading a variety of books about colors helped my son see colors from many perspectives. Don’t just read books, but get physical as well. Once you read about a color in the book, look around the room or your home and try to find that color.
Below are 10 great books to read to your child about colors
- Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley
- Animal Colors by Christopher Neal
- Thomas’ Color Book by Random House
- What’s Your Favorite Color by Eric Carle
- Peppa’s First Colors by Scholastic
- Dogs Colorful Days by Emma Dodd
- My Colors by Patricia Mitter
- Maggie and Michael Get Dressed by Denise Fleming
- Baby’s First Color: A Shiny Mirror Book by Aimee Chapman
- Jane Fosters Color by Jane Foster
Melissa and Doug Sort and Snap Color Match
The Melissa and Doug Sort and Snap Color Match was given to my son as a birthday present. Your child will be able to create various colorful pictures using boards and snap caps. It is an interactive educational tool that is great for color recognition, sorting, and beginning math skills. Cory liked creating the pictures. It is a good way to supplement your child’s exposure to colors.


Have fun with these activities!
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These are awesome ideas on how to help your child learn their colors! I’m definitely going to use some with my daughter. She’s 18 months and definitely does not know which color is which. I’ve got a lot of homework to do! Ha!
These are such fun tips! Will definitely be trying these out with my toddler!
Oh good! I hope your toddler likes the activities. Thank you for commenting.
Our toddler is in the middle of learning colors, she definitely has a few down but is struggling to figure out the rest. These tips and suggestions for teaching colors to kids will come in handy. I’m excited to try some of these color activities right away.
I am glad you find these helpful! I hope your daughter likes the activities and have fun with them.
The Melissa and Doug Sort and Snap Color Match looks like a great way to teach colors. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for commenting. I am glad you found this helpful. The Melissa and Doug Sort and Snap Color Match is really fun.
These look like such fun ideas! Bookmarking to do them with my daughter!
OH good! I hope your daughter has fun learning about colors. Thank you for commenting.
I love these ideas! I always try to find new ways to teach my daughter colors. Im gonna try the color hunt! Especially, at the grocery store so she can have more fun running errands with me 🙂
LOL! That sounds like a good idea! I hope she has fun with the game. Thank you for your comment.
These are awesome tips! Can’t wait to use some for my little guy!
Thank you for the comment Creesha! So happy our son’s are pen pals!