Knowing colors

Ok, we've been working on learning colors for months. Not extensively, but we definitely discuss colors at some point during each day. I'm beginning to worry why my kids haven't gotten it. They know the NAME of colors & will at least respond with a correct NAME when asked, but very rarely is it ever the correct color. Their staples are red, blue, green, yellow, & purple (they have a really hard time with orange and we haven't stressed pink, white, black, gray, etc much yet).

They seem smart in many other areas, so should I worry they're color blind? I honestly don't understand why they haven't at least gotten ONE color down by now!

 

like your kiddos mine know the names of the colors but have trouble matching them with the actual color. if you ask them what color it is they always say blue, then green, then it gets random. i'm curious to see the responses!!

 

Preschool curriculum focuses on color identification between age 2-4.

One suggestion that came from another TS member was to make a chart of colors and shapes. Down the side you have all the colors (including pink, gray, brown, etc) and across the top you have circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, heart.

In the body of the chart you have pictures. Red heart, red circle, red square etc. Next row would be yellow heart, yellow circle, etc. Do you get the idea??? When the chart is complete, you can sit and read the chart with your child and say, point to the red (shape).

I can email you a copy of one I made in MS publisher. PM me if interested.

This Office Max is having a buy 1 get one free offer on some of their educational workbooks/ flash cards/toys which are located in the art supplies aisle. you may find some valuable resources there.

 

There's a pretty wide range of normal in terms of learning colors. Karina knows all the rainbow colors (not indigo), plus black, brown, white and pink. Reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear every night for two years has helped, LOL.

Kevan doesn't know them, however, and isn't even close. Same with counting 1-10, letters and letter sounds -- she knows them, he doesn't.

But, I'm not too worried about it...

 

My son knew primary colors and a few others by around 16 and my daughter around 18 months. Now they are all about discerning what shade of blue it is...my son loves is when he sees the color TEAL or AQUA somewhere. He is so funny.

But, we talk about what color things are a good bit. And I know other folks with kids this age who count to 10 or know the alphabet and we sure aren't there yet. I think each kid is different.

 

I've been working with mine too and they repeat the colors blue,pink,green,yellow red,black,purple,orange. But, when I hold the shape and ask what color it is mixed up. DD knows and can tell blue,yellow,purple,& pink. Where DS knows pink & blue.
I've been reading where at the age of two is when we are suppose to really introduce colors,etc.
From reading your post the boys are right on track and no I would say that they are not color blind.
Maybe try to focus on just one color say a red circle throughout the day and work with that and introuduce a new color/shape every few days.
Good Luck

Thanks For posting this I'm looking forward to reading other responses.

 

Mine will get white and red correct about 80% of the time, but that's it. They know to respond with a color when prompted, it's just not the right one. And nope, I'm not worried. At this point their vocabulary is almost as broad as mine so I know it's not that they CAN'T grasp it, just that I'm sucking at getting the information to them ...and nope, I'm not worried about that either.

 

The girls are now gettign colors even though we have been doign it for months too. I think it is a matter of "when they are ready". They know all the shapes and counts to 15. It depends on their developement.

My middle son Kyle is color blind. It has nothing to do with him being able to tell the different colors but rahter not being able to distinguish between green and red and blue when it is next to each other. Like when they do a red number 2 between green dots. he cant tell the differnece. Children learn the colors by name and association. So if you teach them the sky's color is green they will always call blue, "green". So if they are color blind, they will learn the colors by the names you teach. They dont know the actual color. The only way to determin if they are color blind is to have them tested by a professional optomotrist. We only found out that Kyle had trouble with his eyes at age 5...

IMO just hang on there, they will get it all eventually. Their vocab is only starting to develop.

 

Jack can identify and say the color red. Beyond that, they seem to have no idea what color is what. I'm interested in the responses on when they learn that typically.

 

My girls are just starting to know colors. They do know blue and will point to it and say it, and now they are starting to say brown but I noticed they point to pink and black also when they say brown. Haha.

 

My DD can say purple but they can point to red, yellow, orange, blue and purple. I really like the idea of the chart that was suggested.

 

I kow with my dd I brought her to the doc because she didn't know her colors and thought she might be colorblind

My kids are 3.5 and they have finally gotten to a point where they get the color right 99% of the time. IT takes a while.

 

Each kid is different. My twins learned them in one afternoon using jelly beans & they were under 2 years old. Cody is about to turn 2 & he hasn't got the slightest idea.

 

Wow...I haven't even been focusing on colors. I call objects by their colors (blue ball, etc) but my boys are currently obsessed with letters. They don't know them yet either, but that's what they are interested in so I'm focusing on that. I'm going to start working on colors more though too. They are just beginning to talk (and repeat words) so maybe they'll be able to tell me more colors soon. Right now everything is "blue".

 

My girls know Pink, purple, blue, and yellow, they can both say the color and identify it correctly. It seems like when I have been trying to introduce new colors they look at me as though I have 2 heads! We will continue to work on it and I am sure they will get it eventually!

 

You've gotten lots of good responses on how to work on colors and the wide range of "normal." I would just add that mine are just now consistently starting to identify objects by color and L is better at than J (where J is better at identifying animals and animal sounds). They can generally identify green (a favorite of J), blue, red, pink, white, purple, yellow (one of L's favorites), and within the last week, orange (L's other favorite). It takes some time and practice to not only learn the words for colors but then to associate the word for the color with the color. They haven't yet identified anything as brown, black, or a particular shade of color.

 

Tom is just getting colors right this last week, and Jack still calls everything "blue". And the letter "F" is "french fry" to both of them.

 

Don't worry about it! It will all of a sudden click in their head one day and know it great. Unless color blindness runs in the family (which is no big deal anyhow) then I wouldn't sweat it.

 

My boys have been talking about colours for ages and they totally have the concept, but they still don't get the right name each time. It's not a big deal - it comes with time and experience. I don't believe it's something you need to concentrate on (flash cards, etc.) just make it part of your natural conversation and it'll come. Don't worry! (and this is coming from a former kindergarten teacher)

 

I have a couple of books on toddlers and one of them (I don't remember which ) said that children don't usually know colors until around 3 years old unless parents have spent a lot of time educating them on colors before that age.
I don't really emphasize colors but some of the books I read to them point out the different colors.
My twins are only 16 months so they're probably too young to learn them. They haven't even figured out the shape sorter yet.

 

QUOTE(mich17 @ Jun 11 2009, 03:00 PM) [snapback]1350581[/snapback]
Each kid is different. My twins learned them in one afternoon using jelly beans & they were under 2 years old. Cody is about to turn 2 & he hasn't got the slightest idea.

I liked this response - made me smile. Soooo important not to get worried about this stuff! It will come! Max can only say around 5 words so am soooooo not worried about all that stuff - they will get there when they are ready.