Parents are constantly aware of their child’s development. Anyone who watches a child grows knows that children become more complex over time. An area most parents tend to overlook is colour. Parents spend money on all kinds of things to stimulate a baby’s growth process. Not many parents consider the importance of colour and the impact it has on their child’s brain. Here we’re going to talk about just that. Hopefully by the end of the article you’ll have a better grasp on why colour is so important for your baby. It will play a major role in developing your child’s thought process. This will undoubtedly be shocking news to many of you.
A baby lives in a monochrome world
It may be surprising to some to learn that a baby only sees three colours. During the first three months a baby only sees, black, white, and grey. A baby’s eyesight is also not very good. Each day their eyesight improves and so does their understanding of the world around them. It’s almost useless at this point to over flood the baby with colour. They’re certainly not going to see it.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t put visually stimulating things near your child’s crib or in the areas they inhabit. Just keep in mind that they can only see three colours. You can, and should, put some items around them that are intricate designs. This will improve your baby’s thinking ability. They will look at the designs and study them. It gives their brain something to process. Think of this as early childhood development even though the child can’t communicate what they’re seeing.
Colours begin to make themselves visible
This begins to happen after a child reaches the age of three months. Now they can begin to see colour. It won’t be awhile yet until they’re able to process colours in a meaningful way. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expose your child to colours at this stage in their life. For example, something like our minky dot African baby blanket is a great choice for a child three months and over. The vibrant colourful designs will awaken your child’s senses. It’ll do this while encouraging them to explore new things around them.
A child’s brain is constantly growing new connections to neurons. This in itself is a complicated process that doesn’t need to be discussed in full detail here. What should be noted is that we as parents have the ability to encourage growth of new neural connections. Simply put, we have the ability to control the intelligence level of our children on some degree. The way you do this is, by constantly supplying a never ending amount of stimulus to the child. This is done by adding colour to their lives at an early stage this is possible.
A baby’s brain begins to identify colours to objects
Later on down the line in the life of a baby they begin to identify objects with colours. A child at this age would look at our soft elephant toy and associate it with something in their bedroom. They will know if it’s moved and placed in another room. A child of around 18 months will know if a similar item has been replaced that has a different colour. This is when a child begins to associate and pair colours to objects.
The ability to identify colour and know what it is happens around this age as well. Your child will know that the grass is green. They will associate green with the colour grass. This is how the brain correlates colours with objects. Now you’re probably able to fully understand why colour is so important to a child’s development. It gives them the ability to differentiate between things and allows them to understand the world they see.
It’s never too early to introduce colour to your child’s life
Some will say that this contradicts what we said earlier about a child only being able to see three colours up until the first three months of their life. This is not the case at all. You can add small amounts of colour during this time as a means of giving them a chance to adjust. They will notice the contrast, but that’s about it. Keep in mind a child isn’t going to be under three months old forever. This is just a very short period of time and eventually they will be seeing colour before you know it.
The world your child lives in must be colourful and vibrant. It should be exciting to look at. If it is, then your child will be stimulated. It will increase the amount of connections inside the brain. This will prove vital as they age. Brain growth is something that few people think about. You have a very important role to play in how your child’s brain develops. It’s something that you actually have an amazing amount of control over. Adding colour and making sure that the world is a visually stimulating place is just one of the many ways to achieve that.
Always be aware of colour
Most people think that only fashion designers or interior decorators need to pay attention to colour. Parents should always seek out new and different ways to increase how stimulating their child’s world is. No one should deny the importance of colour. It will awaken your child’s senses and increase their creativity. They’ll be more interested in the world around them if it’s a colourful and exciting place. This is the reason why you should be conscious of colour. It’s something that should be on the forefront of your mind. Colour isn’t just for artists who are painting a masterpiece. It’s also for every day people who want to increase the intelligence and creativity of a child they love. Bathe the world around you in colour and see how your child reacts. You’ll be amazed by how they respond. You’ll know right away the importance of colour when you see a curious twinkle in their eye.