Learning colours and shapes: videos for toddlers and preschoolers

Red, yellow, blue, a circle, a square. Around their second birthday many children start naming colours and shapes, and at first it usually goes wrong. Everything is "blue", or everything is "red". That is normal. Colours are tricky words because you cannot pick them up: a ball is a ball, but red is something a ball, an apple and a fire truck all share.

Videos can help, as long as you use them as a reason to talk together. Below is what you can find on KidsTube, and how to make it stick at home.

Colour songs

Songs are one of the easiest ways in, because the colour word comes back again and again:

• Super Simple Songs has "I See Something Blue" and "I See Something Pink", both simple enough for young toddlers.
• StoryBots has a set of songs about single colours, such as "Everything's Pink" and "When It's Black".
• ABCkidTV has a colour songs collection and a shapes song.

Short videos for learning colours and shapes

If you want to practise the words themselves, there are short videos that show one colour, or a few, at a time:

• Colors for Children and Kids is a whole series about colours, with videos like "Things that are Green" and "Animal Colors!".
• ABC & 123 includes a shapes song and a song about colours and objects.
• Kiddos learn has colour videos with cars and popsicles, and a shape sorting game.
• Teaching Materials has videos on basic shapes and on identifying colours.

Looking for something specific? You can also search for "colors" or for "shapes".

How to help it stick

A video introduces a word, but remembering it happens in real life. A few things that work well:

• One colour a day. Watch a song about yellow together, then go and find everything yellow in the house. A banana, a sock, a building block.
• Name what you see, without quizzing. "Look, your coat is red" works better than "What colour is this?". A child who is tested all the time loses interest faster.
• Start with two colours that are very different. Red and blue are easier to tell apart than blue and purple.
• Shapes are everywhere. A bike wheel is a circle, a window is a square, a slice of cake is a triangle. Spotting them is a game for a toddler.
• Draw or stick things together. Cut a few shapes out of coloured paper and make a house or a little person. That covers colours and shapes in one go.

How long and when

Most of these videos are short, and that is fine. A few minutes of watching together and then doing something with your hands gets you further than half an hour of watching in a row. One thing to know: on KidsTube the next video in the series starts by itself when one ends. If you want to stop after one, say so before you start, so the ending is not a surprise.

Try not to compare with other children either. One child knows ten colours at three, another still mixes up green and blue at four. If you are unsure, your health visitor or doctor can take a look, but usually it is a matter of time and repetition.

Finally

Learning colours and shapes is mostly something you do together, at the table, on the way somewhere and while tidying up. A calm video can be the start of that conversation. Pick one, watch it together, and then go looking for everything that is red.