Sensorial Activity: Red... It's Red!!!

Little Zee never responded to her lessons on colors. I remember one time when I gave her a three period lesson on red and yellow. She was excited and was able to name the colors till the third period where she had to identify the colors alone...


 First period (naming)

Ms Ada: "we are learning something very interesting today! Colors!"
Ms Ada: "are you excited?"
Little Zee: "yes"! she smiles
Ms Ada: "okay so we would start by identifying this color". I bring out the red color tablet and say... "This is red". "Please touch the tablet and say red".
Little Zee: she touches the tablet and says... "Red"!

We did the same for the yellow tablet

Second lesson (practice)

Ms Ada:  I placed the two tablets on the mat and said... "please show me red"?
Little Zee: points to the red tablet and says... "red".
Ms Ada: "please show me yellow"?
Little Zee: points to the yellow tablet and says... "yellow"!


Third lesson (test)
Ms Ada: "so today we have learnt that this color is".... pointing to the red color tablet
Little Zee: stares at me and blinks....  then she smiles
Ms Ada: "Zee, what color is this"? still pointing to the red tablet
Little Zee: she smiles and shakes her head
Ms Ada: "okay Zee, would you like to pack up now"?
Little Zee: "yes! Ms Ada".
Ms Ada: "okay, lets pack up we"ll have the lesson some other time".

We packed up.

I tried this approach severely but Zee was unresponsive. I then decided to be deliberate about drawing her attention to the color so I prepare her environment with red objects. From paint, to crayons etc. I had her paint using just Red. She loved painting! I even changed her cutlery to red and every time she held a red object I went to her and whispered "red"... "this color is red".

Three weeks after... she walked into class one morning very cheerful. She tapped me and said "Ms Ada see!" I noticed she was pointing at the roof of the farm house so I said "Zee that is the roof of the farm house". Then she said "no Ms Ada this is RED!!!" .... She smiled and walked away confidently. I was so amazed!
Through out the day, she walked around the class identifying red objects.

I was so excited to see Zee naming the color red. After she learnt red, it was easier for her to gradually internalize the other colors we learnt. Preparing the her environment to stimulate her learning sure worked!

"Now the adult himself is part of the child's environment; the adult must adjust himself to the child's needs if he is not to be a hindrance to him and if he is not to substitute himself for the child in the activities essential to growth and development" - Dr Maria Montessori

Let's gist....

Did you notice how little Zee was able to focus on (color red) which was the quality embedded in the color tablet? Did you notice how the lesson wasn't exactly forced on her and how she gradually internalized the concept through the aid of a prepared environment? .... These methods can be applied to learning any concept with children.
Do you have any experiences or comments? Please share below. Thank you.