| | Category | BE | L03 | An Investigation into the Color Preferences of Toddlers |
| | Abstract | Color is an important determinant of how much a child likes a food, toy, or |
| | outfit and also influences a child’s interest in an educational setting. If |
| | companies were aware of a common color liked by a majority of children, |
| | they could better market and sell their product. Similarly, educators can |
| | use a color scheme to their advantage when designing classrooms, to |
| | produce a more stimulating or relaxing environment. This experiment will |
| | investigate the color preference of toddlers. The hypothesis is that |
| | toddlers would most likely choose the colors red or yellow. American and |
| | Chinese children from 30-42 months old will be used. The child will be led |
| | to a quiet place or area. Then researcher will ask the child to pick one ball |
| | from six ping-pong balls that are painted red, yellow, green, blue, white, |
| | and black. The color of the ball they grab is representative of their favorite |
| | color. Without replacing the first ball, the researcher will ask the child to |
| | pick a second ball. This is representative of their second-favorite color. |
| | Ping-pong balls are used because they are all shaped the same and are |
| | small enough to grab easily. To avoid affecting the results, no ball will be |
| | presented first. At least sixty subjects, about half male and half female, |
| | will be recruited from nurseries and daycares in Michigan and Shanghai. It |
| | is hoped that through comparisons of the children’s ages, gender, |
| | ethnicity, and parents’ education level, a common color preference will be |
| | found. |
| | Bibliography | Birren, F. (1978). Color and Human Response. New York: Van Nostrand |
| | Reinhold. Birren, F. (1988). Light, Color, and Environment (2nd ed.). West |
| | Chester, Pennsylvania: Schiffer. (Original work published 1969) |