Time to work on colors! There are so many ways to sort and play, but the main point is for you and/or your child to be saying the color names aloud. My son wasn’t a big talker, so just getting the shapes sorted was a fun task for him, too. First gather or make small/flat items you have of each color of the rainbow. (I chose to stay away from shades like teal and coral, for example.) Items can be found or made from about anything – paper, fabric, felt, buttons, lids, etc. These can be sorted into and out of color-labeled plastic bags, and we then stored those in a wipes container. Besides having the small colorful items, you will also need sheets of construction paper, a poster, or some other surface onto which your child can place the small items as he matches the colors. Besides using it for storage, the wipes container is also used for more focused play by dumping in all or some of the items and covering it with the lid. Then he can pull out one random item and place it in the correct spot while saying the color name. Simple and versatile! Here are some photos and description of ways we play our color sorting game:
I found children’s needles at the craft store, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to introduce my daughter to sewing/needle work. These needles are large, plastic, and dull-pointed. I purchased the pack of two needles, one sheet (appx. 12″x18″) of plastic stuff (I have no idea what the name of it is) with holes that are larger than the standard size, and some colorful yarn.
Little Meteorologist
My daughter is really interested in what the weather is doing. She makes a really big deal about the sun, rain, and of course, rainbows! So I decided that as part of our morning routine we would begin finding out the day’s forecast and discussing it. What better way for her to be involved than for her to get to draw each day’s weather herself. Whether it’s sunshine, rain, snow, lightning, or a rainbow, she can draw it on the glass of our picture frame, we can discuss it throughout the day, and then the next day we can wipe it off and do it again!