Tot School: Discovering the Color Red

*Age: 20 months actual; 18 months corrected

Last week we began our “red” unit with a fun discovery activity. Once again, Tex did not join us due to the fact that we were running a very productive germ factory from our home, but we are planning on having a fun reunion with him for next week’s orange/pumpkin unit!

This activity was one of the best discovery activities we have done so far. It kept the twins busy for over half an hour, which is a long time for them to focus, considering their limited attention spans! And the best part was I was able to use materials I already had around the house.

Remember these little guys? They played a central part in this activity. I pulled out several containers of different sizes and shapes from my stash- notice most of the plastic ones have red caps! Then I simply filled them all with red items from around the house and out of my crafty stash. I tried to pick things with various textures and shapes, and also some things I knew would be highly interesting to one or both babies (i.e. red transportation sorters, etc.).

After filling all my bottles, I took it a step further and put all the bottles in a shiny red purse from my closet. What child doesn’t love to dig around in Mama’s purse?

When the twins woke up from their nap, they went straight for the purse. Right away they began to try and figure out how to open it and get at the goodies inside. Will understood the concept of the zipper, but it was a little tough for him to get it unzipped himself. After he asked me for help using the signs “help” and “open” along with some vocalizations (“oh-buh”), I assisted him by holding the purse steady while he pulled the zipper. This was exactly my intention…creating situations where a child must communicate with you in order to accomplish or acquire something he/she wants is called creating communicative temptations and is a strategy that is highly utilized by speech-language pathologists. I will talk more about this in an upcoming post and share some ways that you can do this with your own children.

After we were done opening the purse, the babies wasted no time in pulling all of the bottles out and carefully inspecting each one.

They tested the lids on each bottle and I encouraged them to vocalize and/or sign for help when they had difficulty opening them by themselves. This is why it is important to choose objects that are highly interesting to your children in an activity like this- you want them to be persistent in their efforts after they realize they need your help. I assisted them hand-over-hand with the twist-off lids, and Will would say “tuuuuuuuun (turn)” each time we did it.

Sydney has a thing for puff balls, so I made sure to include a bottle of them just for her. After she got them out, she rubbed them on her cheeks and said “Aww” over and over, like they were little animals giving her kisses 😉

Then she had to give each one a great big sniff.

A favorite of both babies was a baking soda tin with a few red jingle bells inside. They loved shaking it and hearing the loud sounds.

Will was very excited to be able to pry the lid off the container without any help, and made sure to tell his little bell all about it.

Then he engaged in some imaginative play by “feeding” his bells to a little red bull.

Meanwhile, Sydney babbled to her reflection in my china cabinet and used the bells to emphasize important points.

I’m happy to report that the twins are finally starting to interact with each other more during their playtimes (other than pushing each other out of the way and stealing toys from each other)! They spent several minutes giving the bells back and forth to each other, which I thought was incredibly sweet. They even shared a few giggles, which makes my heart melt!

When they began to tire of the purse and its contents, I pulled out some homemade red play dough that I had made earlier in the week and let them have at it. They had lots of fun making imprints with all the different red items.

They especially loved the little “worms” left behind by the red practice golf ball.

Squishy fingers and toes!

We pulled this purse out several days last week and the twins seemed to focus on a new skill each time. One day after nap, they got really into nesting the different sized containers (pictured above) and stacking them (pictured below).

I’m going for it.

Oh, yeah. Easy does it!

Ooooh, it’s staying!

I’m the man!!

I love seeing them so proud of themselves!

As you can see, this activity provided lots of opportunities for communication practice, fine motor skill development, vocabulary development, and social interaction. And it didn’t cost me a thing! Stay tuned for more fun with the color red!

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