Color By Numbers

Day-care is closed, so we spend some extra time with our kids. This extra time has to be filled. One of the things we came up with is a simple drawing game for our (almost) four-year-old, that I want to share.

We had recently used standard six sided dice for the first time. Translating the shown number into steps on the board did not quite work out, but the numbers got recognized.

That gave me the idea to spice up one of our regular activities: drawing. I drew the numerals 1 to 6 in six different colors on each short side of a blank piece of paper. Now, my child and I took turns rolling the dice. We read of the number, looked on our side of the page which color it corresponded to, and were then allowed to draw one line (or circle, or squiggly line, basically one stroke, we were not very strict).

This made drawing more of a joint activity; one more in our currently heavily utilized repertoire. As an added bonus, my child practices to read the numerals.

The concept can easily be adapted to match a child's abilities: write down pips instead of numerals to make it simpler or throw two dice and use their sum to make it more complex (and the result more colourful).

One page lying on a wooden table with numerals 1 to 6 drawn in six different
colors on each short side and, in the middle of the page, various drawings
consisting of strokes in one of the six colors. On the page lies a six sided
dice. Next to the page, three colored pencils are
visible.