Inside: It’s easy to teach a toddler colors while they explore! This collection includes over 20 easy and fun activities that invite young children to learn about colors in a hands-on way.
Around the age of two, toddlers begin to grasp the names of some colors and begin to excitedly point out which names they know.
A great way to encourage this color learning is to incorporate hands-on activities into your classroom and home.
Through fine motor, large motor, and sensory activities, your preschoolers will enjoy interacting with these color learning activities!
How to Teach a Toddler Colors with 20+ Fun Activities
Sorting
Bear Sorting – Sort colorful bears into their matching dens made out of painted paper bowls.
Button Sorting Cups – Cut slits into the tops of colorful cups for toddlers to sort large buttons into the correct color. (About Family Crafts)
Sticker Sorting – For a fine motor activity, place colored paper on the walls and have toddlers peel and stick the same color stickers on the paper. (Busy Toddler)
Magnetic Color Sorting – Create magnets of colorful objects such as grapes, flowers, and trees and have toddlers organize them into the correct color. (The Activity Mom)
Stamp Sorting – Toddlers will sort the velcro stamps onto the envelope with the matching color. (Look! We’re Learning)
Sensory Bin
Color Cube Sorting – Sort cubes by color and put into matching bowls. Strengthens fine motor, too!
Rainbow Fish Water Bin – Catch fish with nets and learn their colors.
Gear Color Match – If you’ve got gear toys, add them to a sensory bin for some fun color recognition. (Moments Enriched)
Sensory Bin Color – To teach specific colors, create a sensory bin involving only objects in that color for toddlers to interact with. (Everyday Chaos and Calm)
Literacy
DIY Color Book – Gather paint swatches of different shades and bind them to create books of colors for preschoolers to flip through. (Craftulate)
Alphabet Color Sorting – Grab those colorful letters and invite your toddler to sort them by color! (Busy Toddler)
Large Motor
Lego Hunt – Go on a hunt for Lego pieces and sort by color.
Color Hunt – Pick one color and hide objects of that color around the room for toddlers to go on a color hunt. (Busy Toddler)
Color Hop – For a large motor activity, draw large circles in various colors outside and have toddlers hop on the color that you say. (Learn Play Imagine)
Outdoor Scavenger Hunt – Go on a nature walk with color bags, finding one object that matches each color on the bag. (I Heart Crafty Things)
Science
Color Viewers – Use tinted sandwich bags or plastic to make ‘color viewers’, allowing toddlers to see everything around them in that color. (Preschool Toolkit)
Color Mixing Cubes – Freeze ice cubes with food coloring and have two colors melt together to see what color it turns into. (Gift of Curiosity)
Color Mixing Bottles – Create sensory bottles with two different colors for toddlers to shake them up and mix the colors together. (Preschool Inspirations)
Art
Yellow Sun Collage – Download the free printable sun and find small yellow pieces to glue on top.
Spin a Rainbow – Dust off that salad spinner and learn about color mixing.
Object Rainbow – For a group activity, preschoolers will glue colorful objects onto the matching color line on the rainbow. (Teach Pre K)
Outdoors
Leaf Hunt – Collect leaves on a walk and create a sorting chart to put them on. (Hands On As We Grow)
Fine Motor
Rainbow Suncatchers – Use the fingers to press colored tissue onto sticky paper.
Color Mixing Bags – Fill a bag with 2 colors of paint and press on top to make a 3rd color.
Pom Pom Sticks – For an easy color matching activity, draw colorful dots onto large popsicle sticks and have preschoolers sort matching pom poms onto them. (Natural Beach Living)
