just fishin’ for colors

Today I realized that Cora’s been calling every color “blue” (I’m such a great mother. . .), so I moved into high “color teaching” gear today–or tried to, at least, when we weren’t stressing about how to keep her from crawling out of her crib (which is another story. . .).

Along with having everyone color label things when they were talking or playing (Hey, Maddy, would you pass me the blue doll dress, please? Daddy, please hand me the green bowl over there. Or, Cora, let’s help Owen put all of his cars in color rows.)

At snack time, we added a “color twist” to one of our favorite snacks:

• Fishing for Colors: Thanks to Pepperidge Farm, this is a “new” variation of some of those old, fun camp snacks. I put a big blob of peanut butter on Maddy, Owen, and Cora’s plates at snack time, then I added about 5 skinny pretzel sticks and a handful of Rainbow Goldfish Snacks.

I said, I know it’s a rainy, gray day, but let’s pretend we’re outside fishing for our snacks today. We’re going to take turns calling out fish colors. When it’s your turn, you say a color and everyone uses their fishing rod to catch that fish. Watch me.

I showed them how to scoop up a tiny bit of peanut butter on the tip of their pretzel stick. Then, when I touched the tip of my pretzel stick to a goldfish, it stuck. Really not rocket science, but for three kids who really like to play with their food, this made them smile.

We took turns calling out colors of fish, and that’s the one we tried to “catch”. We decided as a group that the orange/yellow guy would be called “yellow” and that the pink/red one would be “red”. They both could be either, if you ask me.

Very simple, but any time bellies are fuller or our bodies are healthier in the name of learning, it’s a super-good day in our book. More color learning is on my list for this week. . .