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Colour Sorting Activity for Toddlers

October 14, 2013 by Kate 20 Comments

Here is a fabulous colour sorting activity for toddlers that you can do simply at home.
Colour Sorting Activity using Envelopes
Children can be so incredibly curious and will often test and experimenting from a very early age. 
 
I love this approach to learning because – 
  • it can be used to teach across all areas of a curriculum (maths problems, literacy etc)
  • adapted to suit all levels of understanding
  • helps consolidate skills
  • so simple to set up
  • challenging but also very supportive at the same time
  • fun and engaging
Colour sorting activity for children
Allow me to demonstrate how I have used everyday envelopes to teach my own child (known as ‘Possum’) about colours. Other examples will follow this demonstration. 
simple problem solving activities for kids using envelopes sorting colours colors

What you need – 

  • Envelopes (new or recycled)
  • Coloured pens
  • Paper (coloured or plain depending on the teaching)
simple problem solving activities for kids using envelopes sorting colours colors

“Uh oh! I’ve dropped all the colours, can you help put them in the correct envelope?”

I wanted to set this up as a problem solving scenario that Possum needed to solve. Often this motivates children and inspires them to compete a given task from start to finish as well as giving them a sense of achievement when it’s over.

simple problem solving activities for kids using envelopes sorting colours colors
Possum was able to correctly place each colour in it’s correct envelope. 
 
I did notice, however, that she still needs some support in naming colours as every colour is ‘wellow’ (yellow). This problem solving activity created a great opportunity for me to talk with her and build on her understanding of colour names  and how they were different. 
simple problem solving activities for kids using envelopes sorting colours colors
Supportive teaching
There were times that I would slip in a colour that didn’t belong and ask her to find the slip of paper that was not in it’s correctly place, or with it’s ‘friends’. I feel doing this allows children to achieve a deeper level of thinking because they are having to seek a error and go about fixing it. 

simple problem solving activities for kids using envelopes sorting colours colors

As you can imagine, Possum loved correcting daddy’s mistakes. 
“No Daddy, there!”
simple problem solving activities for kids using envelopes sorting colours colors
I love that this activity is simple to pack up and store ready to play another day. 
 
So how else can we use this approach to learning other areas? 
simple problem solving literacy word activities for kids using envelopes
LITERACY

Of course this approach to learning can be simply applied to build on literacy skills. The above example is one way that has children sorting rhyming words. You could also consider having children sort words/sounds – 

  • same starting (or ending) sounds or letters
  • include the same phonic blends
  • rhyming words (see above)
  • vowels, nouns and verbs etc. 
simple problem solving math activities for kids using envelopes

MATHEMATICS

How about using this approach to build on mathematical skills? The above example is one way. The mathematical answer is written on the envelope and the children sorting the sums by placing them in the correct envelope. Other mathematical ideas you could consider – 
  • matching counters in the envelop to the number written
  • correctly placing money ($5.20, for example) as written on the envelope
  • sorting number names, symbols and illustrations
Other ‘Laughing Kids Learn’ ideas you might like to try – 
Of course you might also be interested to try a few of my other ideas to teaching literacy and math
Simple tool for teaching children about words and phonic blends and sounds
Word Roll
Simple tool for teaching children about math using toilet rolls
Number Roll
 What approach do you use to teach your toddler colours? 
 
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Filed Under: 1 - 3 years, 3 - 5 years, 5 - 10 years, Fine Motor, Literacy, Numeracy

Comments

  1. Deborah Alter-Rasche says

    October 14, 2013 at 4:47 am

    Love this idea, Kate! Envelopes are so fun (and easy to get and work with as well!). Pinned 🙂

    Reply
  2. Jackie@My Little Bookcase says

    October 15, 2013 at 3:40 am

    Cammy loves playing with envelopes. Thanks for all the new ideas

    Reply
  3. katepickle says

    October 16, 2013 at 5:13 am

    Oh how clever!! Love the simplicity of the colour sorting, but the maths one would be perfect for my prep who thinks he is bad at maths when he isn’t!

    Reply
  4. Kate Gribble says

    October 16, 2013 at 5:25 am

    What a clever little Possum 🙂 I could see Sarah loving this. She does love to sort and line things up 🙂

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    October 18, 2013 at 10:00 am

    really cool ideas for kids learning

    Reply
  6. Kate Grono says

    October 19, 2013 at 5:23 am

    That’s a great idea! I love the letter envelopes, they look just like what my 5 year old would be needing to help her early reading at the moment.

    Reply
  7. Elise Ellerman says

    October 19, 2013 at 6:45 am

    I like that this is such a versatile learning resource. As you said, it can easily be modified to suit different ages and different areas of learning. So cute that Possum was not going to let her Dad get away with making any mistakes 🙂 Elise @ Creative Play Central

    Reply
  8. Rachel | Racheous says

    October 19, 2013 at 9:11 am

    I really love this idea and how easily it can be adapted. I’m definitely going to try to organise something similar! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Jodie Clarke says

    October 20, 2013 at 3:43 am

    Such a great idea Kate…we used envelopes a lot this week in play so now I have my follow up activity sorted thanks! been pinning 😉

    Reply
  10. Chelsea says

    October 20, 2013 at 10:06 am

    Love how easy and fun this would be!!! There are so many possibilities for the kids to create new games too. Pinning!

    Reply
  11. pauline@lessonslearntjournal.com says

    October 21, 2013 at 5:11 am

    No way! Possum is so clever. I love this – and the countless possibilities! So workable in a classroom situation (given how frugal and easy it is). Brilliant! xo P

    Reply
  12. Bekka Joy says

    October 21, 2013 at 7:59 am

    Love this! 🙂 Will have to try this one with Miss Ivy soon enough! 🙂

    Reply
  13. Krystal says

    February 4, 2014 at 9:18 am

    Love the number rolls!!!!!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      February 4, 2014 at 11:56 pm

      Thank you lovely Krystal! 🙂

      Reply
  14. Chris says

    January 10, 2016 at 4:18 pm

    This is a great activity for kids to learn about colors. I like to use those color cards too. It’s fun 🙂

    Reply
    • Kate says

      January 10, 2016 at 9:06 pm

      Thanks Chris, I appreciate your comment. 🙂

      Reply
  15. Nicola - Box Hill Speech Pathology Clinic says

    March 6, 2017 at 8:42 am

    Brilliant ideas to encourage toddlers to play with sounds, letters and words as well as numbers and colours! Try some today and make learning fun!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      March 7, 2017 at 12:34 pm

      Totally agree Nicola. Thank you for your comment.

      Please in future do not add your business details to my comment section. I would appreciate that. 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Colour sorting activity for toddlers - Laughing Kids Learn says:
    January 31, 2014 at 1:51 pm

    […] Colour sorting with envelopes […]

    Reply
  2. Homemade puzzles for toddlers using paper plates - Laughing Kids Learn says:
    February 17, 2014 at 11:09 pm

    […] Possum (aged 2.2 years) has shown a keen interest lately in learning about colours. Maybe it’s a toddler thing. Whilst she isn’t yet able to correctly name them, she is more than happy to have a guess and that’s what we strongly encourage within our household. Some of the activities that we have done in the past to assist her learning include sorting colours with sticky contact paper and with coloured envelopes. […]

    Reply

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Welcome
Hello and welcome!
My name is Kate and I am a mum to two little girls, Possum and Boo. We have lots of fun together learning with play at home and are pleased to share some of what we do with you.
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