Do you like spring colours?
The yellow ageing leaves as bright and beautiful as the deep green velvety new ones or the purple cascade of bougainvillea as mesmerizing as the golden laburnum.
Apparently babies and toddlers too love colours, and what is more, it affects their growth and development!
Did you know that we concentrate better if we see green and that blue boosts productivity or that orange lifts the mood?
If colours can do all this or you, imagine what they do for a baby whose exposure is limited to what you choose for them!
Growing research shows that babies as young as four months can recognize colours, and are not colour blind as was believed earlier.
Dr Anna Franklin, from the Surrey Baby Lab, has studied more than 250 babies to look at colour preferences and says. "It's a myth that newborn babies are colour-blind. They can see colour, but it does develop over the coming months."
Colour psychologists have linked colour with brain development, and later in adulthood to decreased absenteeism, enhanced productivity and even transition from childhood to adulthood.
In the case of adults, several experiments have shown that different colours affect blood pressure, pulse and respiration rates as well as brain activity and biorhythms.
As a result, colours are now used in the treatment of a variety of diseases.
Within the past decade, for instance, baths of blue light have replaced blood transfusions as the standard treatment for nearly 30,000 premature babies with jaundice.
Every colour impacts learning differently
An article on child and colour psychology has this to say about how different colours can impact learning and memory in kids.
Blue– Blue enhances creativity and stimulates a cool and relaxing environment.
Red– Red is the colour of passion and strong feelings. In school rooms, it can be used in combination with other colours as it can help in detail-oriented or repetitive tasks.
Yellow– This is indeed the colour of happiness and sunshine for children. Yellow stimulates intelligence and is ideal for use in kids’ rooms, study rooms and play areas.
Green– The colour of abundance can relax and contribute to better health in kids.
Pink– This is a calming colour. It can lower heart rate.
Purple– This colour ideal for kids as it is attention-grabbing.
Orange– Many educational institutes use this colour as it enhances critical thinking and memory. Test rooms in this colour are known to improve performance in exams.
How to add colours to your kid's life
While it is not always easy to get rooms and walls of different colours, colourful stacking toys and other bright big toys can also fill up a room and play a significant role in a child’s growth.
Bright and colourful toys made from safe and eco-friendly materials also affect a child’s mood and health.
Children are attracted to many colours at the same time, so multi-coloured toys and accessories are more attractive to them. Get those newborn babies' toys and story books for todders and accessories with a splash of colourful images.
Take your little ones outdoors and show then the different greens in nature. Show them the profusion of flowers and even the ones falling to the ground.
Add a riot of colours to their food with carrots, pumpkins, beetroot, apple, oranges and spinach and more.
Children have a more intense reaction to colours than adults do so it is essential that we provide them with the right stimuli.
Go on, add more colour to everything. It does everybody good!