Hi, my name is Nicole and I am the founder of Colourful Learning. I am a Mum of 3, Patrick 15, Jessica 14 and William 13. Life was certainly busy with 3 kids under 3 and so when Patrick started primary school I knew it would be challenging! Patrick was always a handful to say the least! He didn’t like to stay in one place for too long and got bored very quickly! When Patrick bought home his first homework, sight words, on a piece of paper and told me he needed to learn the words I was ready for the challenge. He was very intelligent and loved me reading to him so I thought he would be excited to learn to read!

I thought wrong! Patrick didn’t enjoy his homework at all. He found it very boring and was not learning and in fact after taking a few reading groups in his class I learnt that he was falling behind. I looked around aimlessly trying to find a sight words resource that was fun and meaningful and taught high frequency words, not just words like car, ball etc. There were very few options and when I did find something that might work it was way out of my price range. Have you ever noticed how expensive classroom resources are? Those poor teachers, it’s CRAZY!!

I LOVE games! So I decided to print the words out in pairs, laminate them and after many paper cuts I made my favourite game of Memory. Patrick responded better than I imagined. I made other games too like Bingo and we also made up games together. We used them as flashcards when Patrick was in the bath (and couldn’t run away!) and every night before bed. Not only did Patrick start learning all the words very quickly but his sister Jessica (who had just turned 4) started to learn them too! I was so happy and relieved.

As my friends children started school they asked me about the flashcards I had made for Patrick and asked if I would make some up for them too. I decided to get them made into a fun and colourful game so all kids could benefit from them. Colourful Learning was created with young families and small budgets in mind! Remembering how expensive teacher resources were I wanted something that all families could access to help their children learn; without compromising on quality. It took around a year to design and develop our learning games but it was important for me to get everything right to be able to help as many families and kids as I could.

Our games have helped thousands of families, teachers and schools bridge the gap and help kids learn. I love getting feedback on how the games are helping others. I had always wanted to become a teacher and it came a time when I had to decide to give up my teaching degree or continue building my business. A very wise friend said to me, “In a classroom you can maybe teach 30 kids a year but if you can reach far and wide with your learning games just think of how many kids you’ll be helping to learn.” Her analogy was perfect and I left uni in my third year of teaching to concentrate on my business full time. I always think I will go back but time keeps getting away from me and honestly, I have found what I love doing. It is so rewarding knowing that our games have helped someone enjoy reading their first book or solve their first maths equation!

I hope you enjoy playing (and learning) with the games too and I look forward to hearing your feedback! Please contact me if you have any questions.
Happy Learning,
Nic xo

My Beautiful Family

Left to right…
Mark (aka Dad) is our storeman and chief packer. Will is our product tester and he’s rough! Patrick is our ideas man and number one critic! Jessie is in charge of graphic design and all things social!

Together, we are The Fosters, aka The Colourful Learning Team!