Color Train

In short

Color Train is a calm memory game at the table. You need a printed sheet with trains and a few colorful buttons or caps. It works even for daycare kids who like sorting things and putting them in rows. Your child practices remembering a sequence, playing quietly for a while and picking up small objects with the fingers.

What you need

• Printouttemplate on A4
• Buttonsor pom-poms, caps

How to play

1. 1Print the sheet twice. On the first train you place buttons or caps in four colors.

When it fits

• Early in the morning, when your child is already awake but the rest of the family is still asleep.
• On days without a nap, as a quiet break after lunch.
• When a drawer is full of colorful buttons or caps that could finally use a purpose.

What your child practices

• Sequence memory
• Calm play
• Fine motor skills

Kids need to remember a sequence in many places: getting dressed in the right order, singing songs and counting rhymes, and later spelling words. Occupational therapy sites describe games where children remember what they saw and build it again. Color Train adds picking up small buttons, which is exactly the kind of finger work that holding a pencil calls for.

Works well before or after

Afterward, Rebuild the Dots works in a similar way with color patterns. For a movement break in between, try Red Light, Green Light.

Printable templates

All 3 sheets for this exercise are in the printable pack.

Further reading

• Kindergarten readiness activities: 10 playful ideas
• Fine motor activities for kids: everyday ideas by age

Similar exercises

• Rebuild the DotsLook at a color pattern briefly, then rebuild it from memory.age 4+ · 4-6 min
• Bead PatternLook at a bead pattern briefly, then string it yourself.age 4+ · 4-6 min
• Picture RecallLook at a sheet full of pictures for a moment, then recall them.age 6+ · 4-6 min