Infant Color Activities

Visual Stimulation Patterns

• Hang visual-stimulation patterns 8 to 15 inches above your infant's changing table, crib or on the back of the car seat where they can be easily seen. To make visual stimulation cards, cut out simple shapes from black and white paper. Cut out a large white circle and glue on a black background. Create thick, alternating black and white stripes. Cut out a black triangle or a black sailboat and glue on a white background. Simple, bold shapes make the best visual stimulation patterns for young infants.

Read Board Books

• Get board books from your local library, the bookstore or even the local grocery store to read with your infant. Board books like ̶0;Black on White̶1; or ̶0;White on Black̶1; by Tana Hoban, ̶0;Look, Look!̶1; by Peter Linenthal and ̶0;It Looked Like Split Milk̶1; by Charles G. Shaw all make use of visual stimulation patterns. Around 2 months of age, your baby may begin to show an interest in bold colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Expand your reading adventures with board books such as ̶0;Baby Color̶1; by D.K. Publishing, ̶0;Colors̶1; by Justine Smith or ̶0;I Love Colors̶1; by Margaret Miller. As you read, point to the colors on your infant̵7;s clothes or your clothes that match the colors in the book.

Colored Playing Balls

• Purchase a few colored balls in solid, bold colors. During playtime, roll a green ball to your child and say, ̶0;Green ball.̶1; Have your child roll the ball back to you while you say "green ball" again. Keep rolling the ball back and forth while saying the color. Another game you can play with a colored playing ball is peek-a-boo. Hide a ball behind your back and then quickly bring it out and say, ̶0;Peek-a-boo purple ball!̶1; Hide the ball under your shirt and then bring it out again and repeat, "Peek-a-boo purple ball!" Act surprised each time the purple ball comes back into your child̵7;s view.

Sorting Blocks

• Purchase a set of brightly colored blocks. During playtime, sort the blocks by colors. Say the color of each block as you put it into a color pile. If you don̵7;t have access to a set of colored blocks, sort toys or shirts by colors. Encourage your baby to help you sort as you say the color of each item picked up.

Color Day

• Declare today a yellow day. Go through your closets and have the entire family dress in yellow. Take a walk around the block and look for yellow cars and yellow houses. Point out the yellow sun and yellow flowers. Color a yellow picture and put a yellow bow on Daddy̵7;s head! If your infant is old enough to be eating solid foods, serve bananas, corn and other yellow foods simply because it̵7;s yellow day. Choose a different color for color day next week.

Grocery Shopping

• When you are grocery-shopping with your infant, point out different fruits and vegetables along with their colors. For example: red strawberries, green zucchini and yellow squash. If your baby is old enough, hand her the produce so she can see and touch the red apples before adding them to your cart.

Get Messy

• Babies naturally like to squish and mash things between their fingers. Play up to your infant̵7;s sense of curiously and let him play with his food. Place a spoonful of green peas or strained peas from a jar on his feeding tray. Point to the peas and say, ̶0;Green peas.̶1; Let your child squish, mash and explore how his fingers look covered in green. Point to his messy fingers, giggle and say, ̶0;Green fingers!̶1; Then place a spoonful of cooked and cooled carrot bits on his feeding tray and play again. If your infant mixes the colors, point out the new colors he made.