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I am so excited to be back with more Story and Sensory Activities for your toddlers and preschoolers. Having these activities on hand that pair with our favorite books has made learning through play so special for us. We all know that a toddler’s attention span is very limited, so having these to go along with beloved characters that my daughter is already familiar with has made things more fun and interesting for her.
We have been really practicing color identification and finding colors all around us when we’re out and about. But, as a former teacher, it’s so important to me to find children’s books that will also drive these important skills home for my daughter. The Crayons’ Book of Colors by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers has quickly become a favorite in our house and a perfect book to use when introducing or reviewing colors. Some of the pictures that the authors draw are meant to be silly and I think that’s a fun addition to the typical color book for little ones. Since this has become a MUCH repeated read aloud for my daughter, I knew it would be a perfect text to use when creating literacy activities to go along with it.
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| Color activities for toddlers and preschoolers |
These activities work on story sequence, color identification, gross motor skills, and fine motor skills. These six activities can be used over and over again as part of a preschool theme with daily activities or to play with your little ones at home. If you already have used my Brown Bear, Brown Bear Story and Sensory Packet, then you will recognize the first four activities. I chose to create activities that were similar because using repeated activities or a repeated format with little learners is extremely helpful in building confidence and literacy skills. The last two activities are new and pair perfectly with the crayons book or independently as just color practice for your toddler or preschooler.
The first activity in the packet is the Crayons’ Picture Story Cards. These colorful character cards can be used as story sticks for your preschooler or toddler to act out the story or place them in sensory bins so your little one can put the characters in order in which they appear in the story. By gluing them to popsicle sticks your little one can even use them as puppets! My daughter is VERY into puppets these days and I’m trying to take advantage of that!
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The next activity is a simple story mat that you can laminate and use alongside fun manipulatives like gems, coins, mini-erasers, and pom-poms to help them follow along with the story. You can use these mats while you’re reading or have your little one use them afterward to help retell the story and name the colors and characters that were in it. |
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There’s something magical about sensory play with your toddlers. I am finding more and more that it is the one thing that keeps my daughter entertained and willing to engage in an activity. You’re constantly learning with sensory bins but when you add a little bit more of an academic piece to it, it’s really a win-win. The Crayons’ Sensory Bin activities comes with two different sorting mats that you can print and use to go along with the pieces. I have plain crayons to put in your sensory bin for your little ones to sort by color, real world color objects, or you can do a combination of both which is what I did with my toddler. |
With toddlers and preschoolers it is SO important to get them up and moving! My daughter loves to throw the color dice from the gross motor activity and run and find the matching color kid or color card. It doesn’t matter that she’s playing alone, she absolutely has a blast collecting them all! This color dice game is perfect for your little ones to get some wiggles out and practice their colors at the same time.
The last two activities that can be used alongside the book in our Story and Sensory Activity Packet are so much fun. The Crayons’ Color Sort Mats or File Folders are one of those quick and simple activities you can pull out over and over once they are printed. You can use these in a few different ways. I would suggest gluing the mats to file folders and mixing up the different color cards or just using them as a reference tool to have a collection of color objects for your toddler or preschooler to refer back to. They can be used mixed up with all of the colors or on their own for more color practice.
The last activity in the packet are the Crayons’ Coloring Pages. I am so excited to have these on hand whenever my daughter is showing interest in her crayons or markers! I have a few variations depending on your goal with this packet. If you are using this packet to introduce a color a week or on different days, then I have coloring pages for each individual color. Or I have coloring pages where your little one can decide on their own which color or colors they would like to use. In my opinion, you can never have enough coloring pages! Keep these in a busy bag with you on the go or bring them to restaurants so you always have an activity for your little one to work on!
I really hope that you are as excited for these activities as I am. If you would like to learn more about them or see them closer, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store here!
I hope that this packet of activities inspires you to play with your little ones and continue to read and love your favorite stories.
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