How to introduce colour into early years teaching

The importance of colour in early years.

Babies begin to learn from the second that they are born. But stimulating a child’s mind and helping them develop their awareness are crucial to ensuring that they absorb as much as possible in the early years.

Where does colour come into learning and development? Infinite Playgrounds, designers and creators of playground canopies, investigate:

Colour and early years development

When a baby is born, they can only see in monochrome. Until around eight months when their colour vision is fully developed, an infant is unable to distinguish the difference between colours. However, by ages three or four, a child can recognise basic shades — and frequent exposure can help strengthen this skill.

Why do children need to learn about colour?

When a baby reaches eight months, it can be beneficial for them to be surrounded by different colours. This can help them make colour connections early on in life and experts have said that showing patterns to a baby is important, as it provides visual and cognitive stimulation.

Being able to identify the primary colours is important, but so is naming shades. Learning these allows children to recognise significant visual hues — such as red as a code for danger. It is useful outside of the curriculum too — for example; knowing the difference between a red and a blue coloured tap.

When a child is confident in naming colours, they become more able to read and write maturely. Describing an object without saying its colour is difficult! Similarly, colour is an important part of descriptive techniques, so learning about colour also helps exercising their imaginations when creating a story.

The Importance of colour in early years Photo by Greyson Joralemon on Unsplash

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