A colorful learning experience

Create a colorful learning experience for you baby based on how babies learn:

• Did you know babies need to see shapes, colors and objects at varying distances? All these images help form the brain's ability to recognize and organize visual information.
• Did you know babies prefer primary colors like reds and yellows? Single color objects (e.g., a red ball, a blue plush toy) will stimulate and engage younger infants.
• Did you know that babies are born with the ability to learn language? Make-believe and play-acting actually help develop these important language skills. That's because playing pretend involves active, two-way talking. The more talking, singing and reading that a baby hears the more words she will understand and eventually use. When you and your baby play out the story, you are helping develop creativity and language skills.

Try this: Call out each new color you discover when you read a book or play with a toy. Children attach strong emotions to colors. Your child will most likely start developing a preference for a favorite color. When you encounter pictures of animals, ask your baby, Who's this? or What does a lion say? Even if your baby is too young to respond, he is thinking in complex ways just by listening.