Holiday Homeschooling: Teaching Colors to the Tactile Learner

I’m not a teacher by trade (God bless the teachers. Seriously.) But I don’t underestimate the role I play in my children’s early education. And neither should you! As their mother and legacy builder, I know that it’s my responsibility to teach our kids a fundamental base of knowledge. I’ve been implementing kind of like a school-at-home mentality since my oldest was about two years old, using simple crafts and learning games to reinforce educational goals. My girl loved this School-at-Home Color Sorting Game that practiced her fine motor skills and we’ve used this Kids’ SMART goal chart to track our progress towards reading fluency.

Now that my little dude is half way to three, I’ve been thinking of ways to reinforce his learning – especially color recognition. Sometimes I think he’s color blind! The things is, he’s incredibly hands-on. Way more than his sister ever was, and certainly more than I am. The fact that he’s tactile-inclined means his best learning happens when his fingers are busy. So when I was out and about doing my grocery shopping at Walmart, I browsed the craft section for fun activities and craft for kids.

Teaching Tactile Learners: Is There an Art For That?

I presume all kids are tactile, but my guess is that some are more so than others. When my daughter was little, she would love to sit with me and very calmly recite every single thing she learned. I would do flashcards with her. Read books for an hour at a time. Play simple memory games. All at the tender age of two. While she wanted nothing to do with play-dough, she loved having my attention and talking about the ABCs.

Her brother is a different story!

Actually, until I stopped to consider how I was teaching him, I thought my son wasn’t learning much of anything. How dumb of me, right? I thought he didn’t know his colors. Or recognized letters or numbers. He would act silly and pretend like he had no idea what I was asking. I’d get frustrated and change the subject. It wasn’t until he asked for this Art 101 Kids’ Finger Paint Set that I thought, “Maybe if I motivated him with a tactile activity, he’ll show me what he really knows.”

Low and behold, this boy was holding out on me! Not only does he know his colors, he was able to tell me most of the stamp shapes that came with the kit with glee. Because this awesome paint set came with white, too, we were able to create lighter and darker hues of the same color as an experiment. Walmart carries so many fantastic craft kits for kids, and it’s so easy to pick one up while I’m shopping for groceries. Gotta love one stop shopping.

Holiday Christmas Tree Finger Painting Craft

I love that one simple finger painting kit from Walmart can turn our afternoon into a holiday themed craft party for my tactile learner. After putting away the groceries, we set outside to make a traditional finger paint Christmas tree craft.

Painting his palm green (like Hulk!, says the boy), we made a beautiful Christmas tree. We laid out all the colors and made dots for bulbs. He picked a “ellow” star and stamped it at the top. All the while, my smart son reminded me that, not only does he know his colors, but that teaching a tactile learner is as rewarding as sitting down to read a great book.

This Holiday Christmas craft might not be Pinterest-perfect, but I love it so much. It signifies a huge parenting victory for me, and I don’t want to forget it. The next time I was in Walmart, I picked up one of these affordable Mainstay frames to hang it as a parenting reminder.

This time of year is great for DIY’s, crafting… and homeschooling! It’s also a time of year where moms feel a bit overworked with the balance of it all – at least I do! After so many months of “teaching” my son, I’m happy to have finally cracked the code of a tactile learner with this simple holiday craft.