The ability to identify colours is considered a milestone within a child’s cognitive process, the early identification of colours help create the cognitive link between visual clues and words. The key to help a child understand that red is red is constant repetition and expanding on what colours are and what colours are not.

Children naturally attract to bright colours as its easier for them to see as they take in the world around them through their eyes, and bright colours are one of the first aspects of sight that help them distinguish form and catergorise objects, the brighter the object the more stimulating and interesting it is for the child.

Colour is known to affect emotions and behaviour. Warmer colours like orange and yellow bring happiness and comfort, red is known to increase heart rate which increases alertness and appetite. Cooler colours such as blue and green have more of a calming affect, this is definitely something to consider when designing bedrooms/ playrooms. Within a learning environment it is key to not use bright colours as it tends to overstimulate children which is caused by a collection of bright colours on walls.

The suggested colours for learning and influencing moods are;

• Blue
  • creates a sense of well being, sky blue is tranquilizing, can lower temperature and inhibits appetite.
• Yellow
  • creates a positive feeling, optimum colour for maintaining attention and encourages creativity.
• Orange
  • increases alertness
• Green
  • creates calmness

A child on average begins to recognize colours around 18 months which is usually around the same time they learn similarities and differences of shapes, size and texture but this doesn’t mean they will be able to name a colour, this is usually developed at the age of 3.

This process is probably one of the most exciting parts of a child’s life so take your time and have fun teaching them!

– Rylee Morton

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