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Northern California Babies
futrkingsley
member
how to teach colors/shapes?
futrkingsley
member
DS thinks all colors are blue and knows what a triangle is. Other than that he refuses our attempts to label colors and shapes (which we are sort of weak on). We have a shape sorter, and color puzzles and he does them but not when you ask a shape or color -- he knows how to match the shapes/colors but not what they are called despite our efforts.
His speech therapist asked DH to work on it and I'm not sure what else to do. Any ideas?
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Re: how to teach colors/shapes?
107 Read/listened to in 2011: 91 Books/16 Audiobooks
Read 2012: 33/50
I haven't seen them in awhile but Costco had an oversized board book that was all about colors and the boys fell in love with that one. It was one of those My First...colors, numbers, words, etc.
we have the "art box", that has crayons, etc in it. We go over colors a lot with the box of crayons etc. DS is in a stage where he likes to repeat what we say. He can't really pronounce many colors, yellow sounds like lelow.
Another tactic we use, I try to ask him to go get me the blue block, or if he asks for something I point at it and say, looks its over there by the green turtle. Not sure if any of its actually working!
This sounds like the Roger Priddy (sp?) books? DD has a few and they are really fabulous for learning words, shapes, colors, animals, etc. Just depends on the book you get but they've been great. Amazon sells a lot of his stuff. Sometimes the board books for words and such use really obscure pictures or animals (one we got had an emu? I mean seriously, WTF? How about dog, cow....common animals?) but the Priddy books use pictures that are easily recognizable and teach words that are common and used often with toddlers. Like a food picture will be a banana, not a kumquat like some random book we have.
we actually learned colors while driving in the car. I'd talk about the green trees and the blue sky and the yellow signs and the green signs and the red cars etc. Once we mastered the basic colors, we now do "I spy with my little eye a 'beige car' or a 'red octagon'", etc.
Moose A Moose is also an excellent teacher!
We did similar to SweetieP in the car & everywhere else too - I think I tell him the color of pretty much everything and now he does it too. We do the same with shapes - square boxes, round lights, etc. I cut his food into different shapes sometimes too, which he loves. We have a Sesame color & shape DVD that M doesn't really watch, but it gave me the idea to talk about the shapes and colors of everything around us. We also do shapes when we draw, mainly because I'm a terrible artist so tend to draw shapes since that's about all I can do that's recognizable, but we made that a game at restaurants when they give us crayons (I draw the shape and he guesses shape and color).
Okay then my kid is dense. We talk about colors and shapes a fair amount and his therapist uses both in his weekly therapy to help him learn sounds and objects, etc. and he still just does not know what we are referring too. I don't cut his food into shapes other than food so maybe I'll try that. And I love your idea A of coloring shapes when he wants to color (he always requests hockey guys but I can try to branch out).
I have several things to tackle at once -- he's super focused on a few areas of interest and is spending all his learning time soaking up those things and totally ignoring other things, and his exiting speech issues (he doesn't say G's so green should be fun).
I started with one color specifically...and an easy one to identify: red. We always saw red lights, stop signs, fire trucks, etc. And actually, now that I think about it - it was red and green first because of the stop lights. He'd be in the back seat telling me "gringo". Or at least that's what it sounded like - totally cracked me up. (Green - go).
we also did the same thing in the house with red pillows, red packaging, red crayons,etc. I am always asking "what colors do you see" to see what he could identify and helping out when I needed to.
We had some first word books that taught the names of things but I also used it for colors: "can you show me something that's yellow?" and there would be a school bus. etc.
I don't think your kid is dense---I think it just depends on how it is that he learns. Another thing I've seen done at A's school is the teacher will hold a few items and will put them out on her terms. Say, she's holding a red block but A wants the orange one. He will have to say 'orange' in order to get it. And with every correct answer, she adds another one or gives something as a reward (orange block, food, sticker, etc). I've also noticed if there are too many 'things' around, the boys get too distracted and confused. You could also put out a few blocks in various colors and tackle just colors...then move onto their shapes. I think he will eventually get it, it's just a matter of how he learns.
Repition. Repition. Repition. Repetition.
Max thought everything was blue for a LOOONG time, and just in the last few months, he understands that things are different colors, and is getting the hang of colors.
Just today, he identified a purple car, which is a new one!
We had/have a couple of books that are shape based, and we're constantly talking about colors... "What color is that car?" "Do you see the green bush?" and he's been picking up on them lately.
For shapes, he has several shape sorting toys; the traditional box with blocks to fit in the holes, as well as a thing with little poles and foam shapes in different shapes and colors, so he stacks them on the poles.
Max doesn't really say "t" sounds, so white comes out "wipe" and he'll correct me if I say
"Do you mean whiTE?"
"No mommy, WIPE"
Hang in there!! You are doing a good job. If you ever need to vent or talk, you can totally page me or PM or whatever. It's so hard when the kids do so well for others and not for us. But if we stick to our guns, they will catch on...it's just waiting for them to do so that tests us the most.