Preschool is a difficult time of life for everyone involved. Most children feel confused in preschool because they lack the mental powers to learn many of the subjects. Everyday the teacher has something new for them to learn when they have not learned everything from the day before. Preschoolers usually care most about eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom, and making ridiculous jokes. They don’t understand the purpose of learning and they have very short attention spans. This is mainly why parents, teachers, and the preschoolers themselves struggle to get through this period of life. Adults cannot understand why the children find it so difficult to remember their lessons or why they can’t sit still. It is a real challenge to find productive ways to teach preschoolers anything. You have to be very creative if you want them to actually learn something.

Although it might seem like a strange teaching method, you can actually use coloring to teach a preschooler important lessons. One of the most basic lessons you will teach them are the names of the colors themselves. When a child is coloring help them to learn their colors by identifying the name of the color in a particular pencil or marker. In front of a group or individual, have a quiz where you ask them to mark specific colors on a blank sheet of paper. You can turn this activity into a little contest by awarding the first child who colors correctly a prize. As children start to learn to write have them write the names of the colors underneath patches of color.

Ask the children to color animals and plants appropriately. Many kids just like to color with any color in the set. However, you can teach them important things about animals and plants by making them use the correct colors. As children become excited about coloring, certain animals they begin to learn more about them. Have competitions where a child is to color a certain animal from a picture. You will soon find that the preschoolers are much quicker to identify different types of animals this way.

Try using coloring to teach the children numbers or the alphabet. Although preschoolers might not know much about numbers or letters they probably can recognize some basic colors. If you can associate a particular color with a letter or number the children will probably begin doing so themselves. They will be able to remember the appropriate names based on idenitfying with something they know.

Coloring can also be used as a great reward for a job well done. Most preschoolers love to color because it gives them a chance to control something and to express themselves. If you have had a particularly long lesson on numbers or letters reward the students by allowing them to color their favorite animals. Soon you will find that the children will ask to color when they have done a good job with something.

Encourage the creative side of preschoolers by allowing them to color in whatever fashion they choose. Coloring gives kids a chance to express their personalities and fears. You might also encourage a budding artist by allowing for more coloring time. If a child seems to show a love for coloring support their interest. Help them to see that there is a positive link between coloring, working, and producing something beautiful.

As you can see, you can teach a remarkable amount of material with just a few pieces of paper and some colored pencils or markers. Color right along side the students and show them how much fun coloring can be.

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