For the month of February, my entry for the 12 Months More of Montessori Learning is all about how we learn and explore colors at home. If you are looking for more ideas on how to extend your color activities at home, then this is definitely for you! At 39 months, Vito is knowledgeable of all basic colors and I just have to nurture this knowledge through planned and spontaneous activities.
LEARN COLORS THROUGH NATURE FINDS
Last year, Vito and I started bringing home “nature finds”. This was the time when he turned 3 years old and stopped mouthing objects. We would bring simple things like sticks, pinecones, flowers or rocks, then placed them in a basket for more exploration. We discussed the objects’ texture, shape, weight (heavy or light), size (big or small) and of course the color/s. To simply demonstrate how to extend the “nature table” activity by focusing on colors, Vito and I collected and glued some flowers, leaves and sticks on a white cardstock and then matched them to their nearest colors in the Montessori Color Tablets (3rd Box) .
Because they are placed in a white background, Vito can easily identify the color tablets closest to the petals, leaves and sticks. This is a simple activity that’s so easy to replicate. You can work on rocks, different hues of leafy greens, flowers and more.
COLOR GRADING
We are now using Montessori Color Tablets (3rd Box) for this activity. This is a sensorial material for visual discrimination and perfection of colors. I was a little bit hesitant to purchase it at first so we used a DIY. If you skim through my blog, you might have read about our previous color grading activity using water and food coloring.
I will talk about the Montessori Color Tablets (3rd Box) in a separate post but for now, here’s Vito trying out the yellow color (we worked on it one color at a time). We talked about the dark and light yellow… and on how it gets lighter or darker.
COUNTERS
I love Learning Resources’ counters and we use them a lot at home. We extended its use not just for counting but for color sorting and fine motor skills activities too! What you see here are the Mini Motors and the Backyard Bugs counters. Vito arranged the counters on their corresponding cut-out colored strips.
IN FOODS
We worked on fruits and vegetables last year too and sorted out their colors. Vito loves our play pretend Farmers Market Color Sorting Set and he would often sort them according to colors. But you don’t need to use this, you can use whatever you have in your kitchen. By the way, in this activity we are using the Montessori Color Tablets (2nd Box).
RAINBOW COLORS
Nothing beats learning colors through the rainbow! We love our Large Grimm's Rainbow Stacker to pieces and the boys are using this in so many ways other than stacking it and learning colors! I love that it provides different hues of red, green and blue. Because Vito is constantly exposed to this toy, he’s able to identify the dark and light green, red and blue. Mavi even made a LEGO Bricks version of this rainbow!
ARTS
Of course, there’s the paints, watercolors and markers! Explore colors using these inexpensive art materials. We are not yet talking about primary and secondary colors, but occasionally I would show Vito that we can combine colors to produce another color.
COLORS IN BOOKS
There are so many books on colors but this book is our favourite. Vito enjoyed this the most because he loves flipping the transparent pages of the book to see the result when colors combine. Colours (My First Discoveries) is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers!
COLORS IN SCIENCE
This was an experiment we did last year and Vito loved it! This is one of the many ways we show our kids how secondary colors are formed. See how Vito studied color mixing through this post "Color Mixing: Green, Orange and Purple".
EVERYWHERE
Colors are everywhere! Don’t limit yourself to the ones you have at home (objects). Go out and explore the colors in forests, beaches, parks and just about anywhere… and it’s free!
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This post is part of the 12 Months More of Montessori which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.
Amazing blogs participating in the 12 Months More of Montessori that you should visit:
Easy Flower Science Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten | Natural Beach Living
Montessori-Inspired Skip Counting for Kids {Spring Printables} | The Natural Homeschool
How to Prepare a Montessori-Style Lenten Tray | Living Montessori Now
Montessori Practical Life - Caring for a Plant | Happy Mama’s Hive
Toddler Butterfly Theme for Spring | The Kavanaugh Report
Collection of Color Learning Activities for Preschoolers | The Pinay Homeschooler
Montessori-inspired Plant Activities with Free Printables | Every Star is Different
Montessori Flower Arranging: Practical Life Skills (Free Printable) | Christian Montessori Network
PB&J Bird Seed Ornaments | Sugar, Spice & Glitter
Hands on butterfly themed learning activities | Welcome to Mommyhood
I LOVE all these color learning activities! I can't wait to work with the color box 3 with Little Bee. I'm also envious of that gorgeous Grimm's rainbow!
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