A baby is born with monochrome vision and is unable to distinguish the difference between colours until they are about 8 month old. At around 3-4 years, a child can begin to recognise basic colours as frequent exposure to colours can help strengthen this skill.
That’s why young children’s brains are stimulated by bright colours. Not only does it grab their attention, but it fuels their inquisitive minds too.
But, aside from being aesthetically pleasing to a child, how can colour benefit a child’s early years development? The educational play area designers, Infinite Playgrounds, have provided an insight into the benefits of colour…
There are many benefits of a child’s exposure to colour, and it varies with age. At 8 months, children begin to notice bright colours and this stimulates their minds. This means that exposing a baby to different shades of the same colour can help them make important colour connections early on in life.
Experts have said that showing patterns to a baby is important as it provides visual and cognitive stimulation for a baby to have.
As children get older, it is important that a child can differentiate between colours and know their appropriate names, down to the different shades (navy blue, pale blue) as this helps with their learning of such needed colours – red is for danger and the meaning behind traffic lights. It is useful outside of the curriculum too – knowing the difference between red and a blue coloured taps for instance.
And that ability to be able to differentiate between colours can help with their speaking, reading and writing skills too. Colour is an important part of descriptive techniques so being able to point out colours and describe them gives children a step in the right direction.
Not only has research proven that colour can impact moods, wellbeing, productivity and behaviour, but some experts claim that different colours enhance learning in different ways too. Blue, for instance, encourages creativity, but if overused can bring the mood down in a room. And Yellow is a colour of happiness for children as it is associated with sunshine. This can lift the mood and excite a child due to its vibrant appearance.
Having a colourful environment is better for teaching staff too as being able to point out colours and refer to them whilst teaching helps new learned experiences stick in the mind of their pupils.
So, schools could benefit from decorating their classrooms brightly and incorporating colours into the classroom. For outdoor learning, colourful playground canopies and parasols can sit over areas of a playground, allowing the sun to shine through and create many colourful patterns for the children to enjoy.
There are simple ten-minute games that you could play with your children at any point in the day. How about colour eye-spy, colour matching memory games or presenting coloured flashcards and encouraging your children to name them. It gives kids a game to play, but helps them with colour recognition and learning too.
Sources
http://www.infiniteplaygrounds.co.uk/colourful-classrooms/
My five year old daughter absolutely loves colouring, she has done since she was little, I still enjoy colouring with her to mind you xxx
So many benefits to colours
Its one of our families favourite activities