Identifying Colors: Real World vs. Electronics

How many shades of green has God created? How about blue? When I was a child, we loved to color and took our time selecting the correct shade. Did we want yellow green or granny smith apple green? Would cornflower blue be the color or maybe we’d choose periwinkle?

Funny thing is, I can still smell those crayons. My mind still feels the coolness of the wax and recalls how difficult it was to peel back the paper without tearing it all the way off. We had to leave the paper on to remember the color, ’cause we had one of those big boxes of 64.

I evaluate a lot of young children and if they’re 2ish or 3ish, we identify basic colors. Here’s what often happens:

Mom will report, “She knows her colors because she plays those games on the iPad.” Then the evaluator will place four small squares on a table—blue, red, yellow, and green. The child is then given another square, say a blue one, and asked, “Which square on the table matches that one?”

Sometimes they get it and often they do not. Could it be they don’t understand the words of the instructions? Yes, that could be it. However, it is also possible, and I believe entirely plausible, the iPad skills are not necessary transferable to the real world.

If we took a child outside and pointed at a holly leaf and asked, “What color is this?” Would they know it is a dark green? What about a slice of key lime pie? Would they know that is a light green?

Electronics have their place and they’ve invaded our world whether we like them or not. But, God’s world is so much more varied.

I took a walk the other day and admired the light green of the spring grass and also the dark waxy leaves of the Southern Magnolia. The trail was bordered by wildflowers and I thought I’d share one. (see below) What color would you say it is?

Yeah, I know I’m a nature lover and not a gamer or an addict to electronics. But, maybe your son or daughter would prefer to be outside as I do. God is still creating nature lovers.

Get those kids outside and talk about colors in the natural world. It is so much more beautiful than anything man could ever hope to build.

When I think of those children who never color with a crayon, I realize they’ll never remember how crayons smell or how cool the wax is. They’ll only have a visual image of a color on a glassy screen. And, I think that’ll be a very shallow and forgettable memory.

Did you love to color too?

(Top photo by Pixabay. Bottom photo by me)