Pretty difficult, right? Children are amazing learners.

This is one of the reasons that learning concepts, like colors, can be so hard for children. It’s simple to us as adults. We don’t even think about why this thing is red and this thing is blue anymore. It’s very natural. For a child, though, who may not even have the word in her vocabulary for the thing you’re pointing to, it’s very hard to understand that the refrigerator is gray, and so is the handle on the sink.

But those are two very different things! How can they both be gray?

Once you know the concept, it’s easy, of course. For a child, though, it can be confounding. Here are a few ways to help your child learn their colors with a minimum of confusion and a lot of fun.

Finger Paints

Finger paints are an excellent way to teach colors for several reasons. For one thing, finger paints are sort of amorphous, not really a defined “thing”, so the only obvious feature they have is their color. This can help the child figure out that the pigment is what we’re differentiating, not the physical appearance of the thing.

Finger paints are also lots of fun for a child to use, so they’re more likely to enjoy learning. Try putting out a piece of paper and asking your child to draw you something orange. Then something yellow, and so forth. If they make mistakes, gently correct them. If they simply really want to use a different color, then shift your focus and teach them the correct word for that color and make sure they understand – then let them paint away!

Find the Color

Sit on your child’s bed with them and cuddle up. Point to objects around the room and say both the name of the object and what color it is. “The table is yellow. The carpet is blue.” Try to avoid objects that have multiple colors, as this may be confusing. Then ask your child to find colors of their own. “Can you find something orange in this room?”

If they have trouble, suggest different objects to them. “Is the table orange?” No, the table is yellow. “Is the carpet orange?” No, the carpet is blue. “Is the book cover orange?” Yes! This will help the child feel like they successfully identified the color without putting the pressure on them to find it, which can seem overwhelming at first. They’ll quickly find it fun, though!

For a great learning environment, join us a Discovery School and camp for preschool and kindergarten level children’s learning in West Chester, PA.

Well, not your kids. You want them to have a great imagination and be creative in the way they think for the rest of their lives. When they go to high school or college, they’ll have that inventive, different way of looking at the world that belongs only to them – and they’ll be valued by their teachers and their peers for it.

That’s the plan, anyway. But how do you encourage a child to be more imaginative? Here are three ways to help them learn to think for themselves and come up with new ways of thinking that are uniquely theirs.

Ask for Their Ideas

It’s dangerous to give a small child complete free rein on how to do things. For example, the question of “what should we eat for dinner?” can often be met by answers like, “Ice cream!” which of course is not what you had in mind. However, by giving your child certain parameters and encouraging them to be creative within those parameters, you can help them think up new ways to do old things.

The dinner question, for example, might go something like this. Take out lots of different vegetables, sauces, and other toppings, and put them on the counter for your child to see. Then ask them which of those things you should put in tonight’s pasta for dinner. They have limited options, all of them healthy, but they can combine those options in any way they want to create something new. They might even surprise you with their culinary skills!

Get Them to Tell You a Story

Most parents like to tell their children stories, usually by reading them a book. Encourage your child to tell you a story instead, made up out of their own head. If they’re unsure about it, demonstrate how it’s done. They may be used to thinking of stories as tales that are already written down, so show them that you can invent stories out of your head and they’ll learn that’s a good way to do it, too.

Make sure they can see you’re imperfect. Exaggerate every now and then when you’re thinking of a new plot twist and say “Hm . . . and then!” so your child can see you just thought of this new idea. They’ll feel less self-conscious about their stumbles when it’s their turn.

Use the Socratic Method

Socrates thought that the best way to teach was to ask questions. The next time your child observes something, ask them what they think about it. If they point out a dog on the street, ask them what they think the dog is doing or thinking about or wants. They’ll have to prowl through their own minds for the answers, and they’ll need their imagination to do it.

Go spend some time imagining with your child. You could probably use the practice, too!

If you want a great creative environment for your child, send them to Discovery School and Camp for classes that stimulate the imagination and the mind.

Curiosity

The children who do best in school are those who are naturally curious about the way things work. In any subject, a child doesn’t succeed until he takes an interest in why it’s this way instead of that way – which includes everything from why the area of a triangle is one half the base times the height to why Shakespeare is considered the most brilliant playwright of all time.

When your child plays games or watches TV, they’re in a passive state. They follow the rules of video games because that’s how the game is played – they never have to question why or find out the answers. The same goes for TV; they don’t have to discover for themselves how the story ends, or what happens next. That lack of curiosity means they never develop the inquisitiveness that will help them thrive in learning environments for the rest of their lives.

Outdoors, on the other hand, children constantly have to question why a beetle is a certain color, why leaves change, why the sky is blue. They get used to asking questions and finding out the answers, and they enjoy that process. When they start learning more involved processes in preschool, kindergarten, and beyond that curiosity serves them well.

Physical Development

One of the reasons the outdoors is a better place for your child to get physical activity than, say, the ball court at the YMCA is the diversity of the landscape. Different surfaces, everything from dirt to grass to asphalt, mean your child’s limbs develop more quickly because of the variation. Their muscles will be stronger and they’ll be healthier.

The outdoors is also far more engaging because of those qualities, offering something for every kind of child to be interested in. This means they’re more likely to continue to play, since they have so many different kinds of games to choose from, and that means they’ll become stronger and have more endurance.

If you’re looking for a great preschool or kindergarten class in West Chester, Pennsylvania that offers a wonderful emphasis on spending time outside, look no further than the Discovery School.

When your baby gets to be a few years older, this frustration is replaced with another one. Now both of you can communicate just fine. You’re both using the same words, and you both understand one another when you talk.

Now if only you could get her to listen.

Teaching your child to listen to what you and other people are saying is one of the most difficult challenges of parenting, but it’s also one of the most essential. Without listening, your child is going to be hard-pressed to learn new things or obey your directions, and you’ll be constantly frustrated by having to repeat yourself over and over again.

Fortunately, there are a few tricks to teaching your child to listen to you, her preschool or kindergarten teachers, and her peers on the playground. Try some of these helpful tips to get your favorite youngster to listen as well as she’s learned to talk.

• Set a good example. When your child sees you cutting off other people in conversation or ignoring them entirely, she gets the impression that this is an okay way to behave. She learns how to interact with other people by watching how you interact with other people, so be sure you listen carefully to others and allow them to come to a full stop before responding. You can also demonstrate that you’ve listened to your child by repeating what she says before responding. “I understand that you don’t want to go to bed, but it’s very late and we’re going to do it anyway.”
• Practice, practice, practice. Help your child learn to listen by developing her memory skills. After you read her a story, ask her to tell you what happened in the story. Ask what each of the characters were doing and why. Start with short books and work up to longer ones. Once she’s gotten pretty good at that, prompt her to recall what people in the real world are saying. “What did your aunt say earlier about what kind of vegetables we should have with dinner?”
• Touch your child. Often, children are more prone to listen if they’re not running around elsewhere. If you really want them to hear what you’re saying, cuddle them close and talk softly in their ear. This comforting stance will help them relax and feel like they’re safe, which means they’d rather stay and listen than run off and do something else.

For wonderful preschool and kindergarten classes that will help your child learn listening skills and much more, check out Discovery School’s West Chester kindergarten, day care, and preschool.