Colour Detective
August and I are sick, so I needed to come up with some super simple activities that didn’t zap energy from either of us. Colour detective was born!
HOW?
I found a blue tub and told him we were going to find all the blue things in the house. We then went room to room looking at things and discussing whether it was blue or not. If it was, it went in the tub. So easy!
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
August has known his colours for a long time now but this was harder for him than I expected because he loves putting things in containers! So it took lots of discussion and will-power for him to not put every single thing in here!! After some practice it was interesting to see him becoming more restrained and making a decision about what he should do next.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Feedback is the most important thing here for kids regardless of whether they know their colours. Feedback means kindly providing information about whether the child is correct or incorrect and is KEY for concept development. The routine needs to go like this:
ADULT: *queries whether something is blue*
CHILD: makes a decision or labels a colour
ADULT: *feedback*
🗣
E.g.
ADULT: “What colour is this car?”
CHILD: “red”
ADULT: “red IS a colour! Fire engines are red. This car is blue - blue like the sea” .
Can you hear how there’s no feeling of being ‘wrong’? If the child was correct, you could say “you’re right, the car is blue like the sea” instead of just ignoring their answer. Feedback is MAGIC!
HOW?
I found a blue tub and told him we were going to find all the blue things in the house. We then went room to room looking at things and discussing whether it was blue or not. If it was, it went in the tub. So easy!
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
August has known his colours for a long time now but this was harder for him than I expected because he loves putting things in containers! So it took lots of discussion and will-power for him to not put every single thing in here!! After some practice it was interesting to see him becoming more restrained and making a decision about what he should do next.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Feedback is the most important thing here for kids regardless of whether they know their colours. Feedback means kindly providing information about whether the child is correct or incorrect and is KEY for concept development. The routine needs to go like this:
ADULT: *queries whether something is blue*
CHILD: makes a decision or labels a colour
ADULT: *feedback*
🗣
E.g.
ADULT: “What colour is this car?”
CHILD: “red”
ADULT: “red IS a colour! Fire engines are red. This car is blue - blue like the sea” .
Can you hear how there’s no feeling of being ‘wrong’? If the child was correct, you could say “you’re right, the car is blue like the sea” instead of just ignoring their answer. Feedback is MAGIC!
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