Colours

latest photo of our cute little baby

Recently Adam developed a strange and endearing habit. He loves to “read” the safety warning sticker at the side of his car seat. He does it so many times during any journey he has in the car. Sometimes even when he has started to cry (from boredom) he could suddenly become silent and preoccupied with reading the sticker. We both found it so funny. Look at this;

Adam reading his favourite sticker

I am puzzled as to why he is so attracted to the sticker. First I thought it might be because it has a bright yellow colour. But he also has many toys hanging over the top of his head (attached to the car seat handle). These toys are very colourful and interesting looking, with many bright yellow parts. If the colour is what is attracting him to the sticker, then how come he is not as interested in the toys as he is to the sticker? The toys can only hold his attention for a few minutes, after which he would start to get bored again unless Mommy/Daddy tells a story with the toys while moving them rapidly at the same time.

Adam's colourful car-seat buddies

Yesterday I read that the colours that is most attractive to babies and toddlers are RED, BLACK, and WHITE. These are the colours recommended for learning materials such as flash cards. The colours help babies to concentrate and focus, and can also calm them when they are bored. I didn’t know this. I’m under the impression that the more colours there are the more fascinating it is for the baby. But this had me thinking; is that why Adam is so attracted to the sticker? If you look carefully, the other colours in the sticker besides yellow are RED, BLACK, and WHITE. So I tried a little experiment yesterday in the car.

I took out a simple used paper from Daddy’s laptop bag. It was a map to some place that Daddy printed out on white A4 paper. Of course the colour combination in this used paper is plain BLACK, and WHITE. I presented it in front of Adam, and guess what? He was ENTRANCED! Just a simple A4 paper with a map of Shah Alam on it. He suddenly smiled as though I gave him a lovely little new toy.

That really got me to rethink. All this while, I thought I should get him fancy expensive toys, when something as simple as this could make him happy! I have a new project in mind; to make him homemade flashcards using RED, BLACK, and WHITE. Since these are very easily available colours, it should this project should be simple. Let’s hope it’s not “hangat-hangat taik ayam” only ok.

Other moms out there, pls give me your feedback, do you all experience the same thing with your babies? I mean with the colours. Is it true that babies are more attracted to these colours?