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Behaviour/development

Teaching Colours?

29 replies

JoJo860 · 14/08/2014 11:19

Hi!

I have a 2 year old son who is developing really well and has no problems with his speech or physical development. However he just doesn't seem to be able to grasp the concept of colours. I spend so much time going through books and talking to him about the colours of his cars etc, but if I ask him what colour something is he just says 'Green' lol.
He has a cousin who is 12 days younger than him and he has known his colours for some time now (although the difference in them physically is massive so they are developing at different rates anyway!). The problem being that my MIL seems to think it's a race between them and because my boy isn't reciting colours as well as his cousin I am being pushed to teach him and made to feel like he's behind.
Does anyone have any tips to help me to get him to grasp this? Or is it just something he will learn in his own time and I just need to wear my armour when the MIL visits and tell her to stop pushing him/me/us?

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CultureSucksDownWords · 14/08/2014 11:35

He will get there in his own time. He is in no way behind, and if your MIL keeps mentioning it I would just repeat "it's not a competition" or something similar until she gets the hint.

All you can do is carry on doing what you're doing. Don't make a big deal of it as you could make it an issue when it doesn't have to be.

Just refer to colours yourself when you're talking to him and continue to look at books etc, but try to relax as there's no problem here.

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JoJo860 · 14/08/2014 12:30

Thanks Smile

It helps to hear others reassure me he's not behind! He only just turned 2 at the end of July anyway so imo he's still quite young for things like this!

It's just hard when others are pushing for something he's not ready for!

I'll tell Grandma to back off Wink

x

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naty1 · 14/08/2014 13:09

My 2.2 yr old is only just getting some colours.

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HappydaysArehere · 14/08/2014 13:41

When I was teaching reception children it was common place for them to enter school not knowing colours. We usually started with stories like Little Red Riding Hood and had a colour table which changed every week.
For goodness sake relax and enjoy your two year old. Give him love, experiences and language about his surroundings. Share books for enjoyment and everything will gradually fall into place. Ignore Mil.

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JoJo860 · 14/08/2014 16:29

Thanks for replies everyone Smile

He's so young it felt wrong trying to force him to learn things instead of just letting him grow and develop at his own rate!

We will continue as we are, he will get there when he's ready!

Feeling silly for being pressured by MIL! Blush

X

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thatsn0tmyname · 14/08/2014 16:34

My son learned his colours by watching cars. He loves anything on wheels so I would ask him to point at the red car etc and then as he started talking he had to say the colour etc. A good buggy game

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walde · 14/08/2014 16:45

Blimey some children are barely talking at 2 let alone know colours. My DD had a few words at 2 then she suddenly picked up more words in the Monty after her birthday. At maybe 2.3 she suddenly knew some colours. I don't know where she learnt them, she just picked it up. I wouldn't worry!

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LittlePink · 14/08/2014 16:59

My 2.2 yr old DD hasn't grasped colours at all yet. Everything is blue! Like you I sit and teach her and we have a really good book on colours but shes not getting it but I did read that on average they don't master colours until they're 3. Some are earlier, some are later but on average 3 so don't worry just yet! Some of her other little friends know 3 or 4 colours and can count to 15. She doesn't know any colours (apart from blue but im not convinced she can recognise blue, its just a word to her) and cant count to 15. Shes advanced in some areas but not in others but that's ok. Shes got loads of time to learn alsorts of different things.

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crazykat · 14/08/2014 17:14

He will learn in his own time. My DCs have all learned things at different ages whether its walking, talking, colours or numbers. The important thing is they all got there eventually.

My dd2 was speaking in sentences at 18 months old but only walked at 14 months. Ds2 is 22 months and is only just speaking in recognisable words yet he walked at 9 months old.

I remember reading somewhere that young children either develop intellectually or physically at one time, or word to that effect, so as you say your ds is more physically developed than his cousin who is more intellectually developed in that he recognises colours. They will even out eventually.

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melonribena · 14/08/2014 19:17

Jojo, my ds was 2 at the end of July and I could have written your post!

He says that everything is blue! And if I say no, he says red! He has no concept!

I was concerned but I'm trying to relax about it! Ds is developing well otherwise!

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fortyplus · 14/08/2014 19:20

Use smarties... He says the correct colour - he eats it, gets it wrong, you eat it - he'll soon learn! Grin

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LilyandGinger · 14/08/2014 19:24

We learned using cars too. It's no predictor of anything. My DD knew her colours and shapes well before 2yo her twin brother was quite a bit later. He was the one who took to reading like a duck to water though. It's all swings and roundabouts in the end. Don't stress.

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JoJo860 · 14/08/2014 20:05

Glad to know it's not just mine melonribena Grin my boy can say the colours, just has no concept yet of which is which so he just goes with green!

I was also getting concerned but it's good to know they're not behind and it's early for this kind of thing.

Fab idea though fortyplus - we will definitely give that one a go haha! Wink

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LittleLionMansMummy · 15/08/2014 08:25

Ds was closer to 3 when he began acquiring colours. Bizarrely he got the more obscure colours before the primary ones and I always thought it would be the other way around. He seemed red/ blue colour blind until only very recently. He's now 3.9. He is very bright and articulate, just had very little interest in knowing his colours! Dotty Dinosaurs helped.

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Lovelydiscusfish · 15/08/2014 19:31

Agree that there is no need at all to feel worried he can't yet do this. Development isn't linear, it seems to me - dd was quicker than many of her peers to learn colours and shapes, but is still worse than most of them at counting, for example.
But one thing that might help, and make it fun, is the game Dotty Dinosaurs, by Orchard Games. It was recommended to me on here, and is fab. It also teaches shapes.

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Lovelydiscusfish · 15/08/2014 19:32

Sorry, just seen someone else already recommended it. Well, it must be good then!

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HappydaysArehere · 15/08/2014 22:54

Another thing, when teaching colours, play find the same colour. This helps to gain a concept rather than the prospect of simple labelling.

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fishfingerSarnies · 15/08/2014 23:07

Hey they all develop at their own speed just keep talking about them and they'll click when he's ready. Sing the rainbow song a lot and point to things while you sing it. My dd is great at her colours and was really good at counting (now deliberately gets her numbers wrong and laughs!) but shapes not a clue and no interest can't/won't use shape sorter etc they are all going to have different interests.

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odyssey2001 · 17/08/2014 10:01

Don't mean to scare you but is their any chance he could be colour blind? That may explain why he us finding it hard.

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tobysmum77 · 17/08/2014 10:16

I think it's a bit young to diagnose colour blindness. All I know is that dd is 2.5 and nursery seem quite impressed that she knows her colours. Don't forget op there are a lot of mothers with extreme cases of wishful thinking in relation to dc's achievements.

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StarlightMcKenzie · 17/08/2014 10:34

My child is quite clearly a genius and turned 2 in June and he doesn't know his colours.

If you're desperate to teach him in an adult-imposed way (when he is learning so many other things his cousin won't be through his own motivation and enjoyment) then you could try matching colours first.

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NotCitrus · 17/08/2014 10:39

It''s a strange one - ds has a very strong sense of colour and colours were among his first twenty words age 20 months. Whereas dd has strong ideas about what clothes she wears and loves drawing, which ds didn't until much older, yet at 2.6 she can't reliably name any colours despite a huge vocabulary. And potty training with smarties - it's amazing she can use numbers up to five but not identify red, which looks so much more obvious than "no you've had two cheeses, that's enough" "want three cheeses!"

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JimmyCorkhill · 17/08/2014 10:53

This is really interesting. Scientific American article on children and colours.

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Siennasun · 17/08/2014 19:34

As others said, it's fine for a 2 year old to find colours hard. Lots of 3 year olds do too.
Does anyone have colour blind DC? What age can it be diagnosed. My dad is red/green colour blind so I was worried DS will be too. He can now consistently label yellow blue and red so that means he's probably not, doesn't it?

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HappydaysArehere · 17/08/2014 23:22

Can't believe you are all talking about two year olds. Labelling isn't the same as gaining a concept. I fear for your children if you don't relax and enjoy your little ones. They are not in a competition. Plenty of time for that when the need for academic success kicks in. Your children are learning at a fantastic rate and concepts are the result of experience.

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