So you want to learn about...colors!

Lilah loves books about shapes, colors, counting, and the alphabet. Colors are always a favorite. We have tons of books about colors. Here are four favorites:

Skippyjon Jones: Color Crazy by Judy Schachner: We haven't read the "big kid" Skippyjon Jones books, so parts of this board book (and its companions about counting, opposites, and shapes) were bewildering to me. Skippyjon is a Siamese cat who (I believe) thinks he's a chihuahua. Just go with it, it works! Lilah loves these books, which incorporate a bit of Spanish. Unfortunately, although the counting book includes a page with all the numbers in English and Spanish, the colors are not given in Spanish. But that's fine. The best part of this book is its use of imagination. Skippyjon is not confined by traditional notions of color. His grass is yellow, his sun in blue, and at the end, he colors himself (Lilah's favorite: "Big mess kitty!" she laughs).

Fairy Colors by Caroline Repchuck (we also have Fairy Numbers) isn't necessarily the best book for learning colors, as the pages are colorful and it's not necessarily obvious what the colors on each page refer to. However, it's sparkly and fun, and Lilah adores it. The fairies are dressing up for the fairy ball, each page showing a different color.

This is barely a "book," with only four thick foam pages, each with a different animal in TWO colors. The best part is that the animal pops out for a young child to play with. Lilah loves these (we also have Animals and Numbers). They can go in the bath, but we haven't ever done that, actually. The animals have holes, making them easy for little fingers to pull them out, but they're a bit harder to put back in.

This has been a really fun one for Lilah (we also have Opposites and Shapes), with tabs that are fairly easy for little hands to pull out. Each page shows a closeup detail of an animal with the color name, then the tab pulls up to reveal the animal. Lilah has gotten to where she anticipates the animal and knows the fish is blue, for example. These are great for little hands, and really enjoyable for toddlers who like some interactive fun in their reading.

************

I'm on vacation this week and unfortunately for my Google Reader away from a wireless connection (how my mom lives with dial-up, I'll never know. I guess ignorance is bliss, right?). But I did want to add my absolute favorite color picture book to Allison's list. We LOVE The Color Box by Dayle Ann Dodds. I picked this up at the library for Lily when we were trying to teach her colors. The monkey in the book goes on a colorful journey exploring each new shade. Each page has a specific color theme with objects that are typically that color. And each page has a cut-out that gives you a preview of the next page/color. And if I remember correctly, the monkey in the book "crawls" through each hole to experience to the new color. I just loved this book (maybe even more than my daughter) and highly recommend it!