One pre-academic goal for many of our preschoolers with and without IEPs, is identifying and naming colors.  We’re always mindful to use colors in our everyday classroom language, but there are times when we need to explicitly practice or assess our students. I like to use toys, puzzles and manipulatives but this time I wanted to create a new resource to add variety to our learning. I created some adapted books for learning colors.

Adapted spiral bound book. Title page reads Colors with 8 different colored balloons.

What are adapted books

I decided to give adapted books (also called interactive book) a try.  If you’re not familiar with them, they are books that have been modified in some way to make them accessible for children with special needs or young children.

Using adapted books for learning colors

First, I started with one book.  The colors I needed to assess (and that are typical for most state standards) were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, gray and white. Each page has a picture of an animal or object that is primarily one color.  Real images are used for children that struggle with abstract clipart.  Also, on each page it asks a question and allows for the student to answer by sticking a matching-colored tile on that page.

The book worked great in keeping the students engaged but I found younger students (3 year olds) and students with IEPs needed more support so a book for each color was created.  Now the students have multiple attempts while reading a book to identify a specific color. I liked it too because now the students could see each color can have various shades and tints but still be the same color.

Adapted book with a title page that reads I See Red.

The book with all of the colors will now be used for assessment.

Have ideas of adapted books I should make?

I am happy with how these books turned out and how engaged my students were with using them. I plan to make more interactive books.  If you have suggestions of what type of books you would like made, let me know in the comments below.

Where to find these adapted books for learning colors

If you want the files to make your own books click the buy now button below.

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