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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Learning colours and shapes

40 replies

Hulababy · 02/01/2004 15:04

At what age, roughly, does child learn about these? I ask as my DD, 20 months, seems really uninterested by colours despite me talking about the with her allt he time when colouring, looking at things, playing with playdoh, etc. My friend's little boy knew his colours at her age but wasn't sure whether he was just 'early' with it.

I am not worried with her development at all. She has fantastic language skills with an immense vocab list and is talking veryclearly in sentences. She counts to 10, is alert and bright, etc.

I am just curious as to how I can help her with these things? Any ideas Mumsnetters?

OP posts:

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Jimjams · 04/01/2004 18:42

Interesting about the pilot zebra- I was told when I used to glide- its becuase of the landing light they use these days at airports. Too low and they're red, too high white and just right green (white and green may be the other way round). Mind you it was an RAF guy who told me- their rules may be stricter than commercial.

stupidgirl · 04/01/2004 20:57

This is very interesting. I did wonder whether my dd could be colour blind. She really has very little idea, although red-green is the biggest problem...

fio2 · 05/01/2004 09:49

they dont need to know colours at 20 months. My ds is only just started to learn them and he is 2y3m. The hv said it was too early at his 2 yr check for him to know, so i dont worry.

Original poster

Hulababy · 05/01/2004 09:58

On a side issue here we also have used bricks with DD from before a year old. We have a huge box of Mega Blocks which says for age 1-5. She had this before then as the pieces are huge there is no way she would be able to swallow them. And lego do a range now for young children too. DD has some Lego Explore bricks which are aimed at children aged 1.5+

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Issymum · 05/01/2004 10:08

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at OP's request

droopydrawers · 05/01/2004 21:41

On the subject of counting, apparently there is something called the "span of attention" which is how many objects a person can recognise without actually counting them. An adult has a span of 5 to 9 (if there were 11 pebbles on the ground in a random configuration you probably couldn't tell if there were 10 or 11 without counting)- and a child of three has an awareness of three, rising to four or five by the child's 6th birthday. Counting for a two year old is little more than a rhyme - where the numbers themselves have no real meaning. To encourage them to understand the "threeness of three" or the "fiveness of five" you can try to relate the number to something in their life. So, for example, mummy, daddy and baby is three.

I found this really helpful, as until I read this I couldn't understand why my dd at about 22 months called any large number of objects "two". It seems that it is because her span of attention is only two at that age. The author of the book I read said that, although he could count numbers much higher, her son at 3 years of age had three numbers in his awareness - one, two and too many. This was because every time she gave him objects she would put them in his hands saying "one for that hand, two - that's one for each hand, and oh dear, there are too many". She suggests to concentrate on the numbers in the child's span - a child won't see the fiveness of five if her span is only three. So as the child grows older s/he will be able to separate out "too many" - three is one for all the family; four is two for each hand; five is two for each hand and one over.

By the way, with regard to colours, dd (2) has a mildly irritating habit of calling every colour by the name of the teletubby most closely resembling it. The pictures on our landing have frames which every night she reels off "like Po, like Dipdip, like Twinky" on her way upstairs to bed.

Original poster

Hulababy · 05/01/2004 21:44

droopydrawers- DD was doing the 'every large number is 2'from bout 18 months too. She turned 21 months today and, although she can 'count' to 10 consistently now, she can only really count specific objects (usually bricks or sweeties!) to 4 at the moment. Hates the idea of colours though!

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Eulalia · 05/01/2004 22:01

That is interesting droopydrawers. I think my ds (nearly 4.5) is developing a true sense of number. We have a Spot book and you have to count the eggs. They are spread across the page and he picks them out and counts up to about 6, they increase with each page... however if he counts the legs of a spider then he tends to recount two of them to make ten, partly because he likes to recite to ten and also because they are too close together and too similar for him to notice... but I'd say his span of attention is about 6 which is good for his age but I know he is good at numbers and bad at other things.

dd is also 20 months and I am afraid I've not 'tested' her on colours or numbers! It never occured to me that she might know at this age.

Original poster

Hulababy · 05/01/2004 22:02

Euliali - we found out the counting when she started joining in with me as we limbed the 102 stairs whilst my lift is broken. Took me by suprise to be honest.

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Bozza · 05/01/2004 22:27

I was interested in that too droopydrawers - it very much supports what I have observed with DS who will be 3 next month. For some time he has "known" he has go two grapes, for instance. I think he is heading towards "knowing" 3.

Hulababy, DS was observed by the health visitor at 2.6 and she was very impressed that he knew all his colours (and also dark/light differentiation) at that age so I think just be patient. He has also been very good at shapes but I think he is quite spatially aware. Now all I need to do is persuade him to pedal his trike!

dot1 · 06/01/2004 11:17

ds is just 2, and at 23 months the penny suddenly dropped with colours and everything had to be described in terms of its colour, e.g. "red car", "purple train" etc. Very sweet and I was certainly impressed! He can also tell you if something's dark or light. But it's so interesting re: numbers, because although he can count up to 6 (although missing out 5...!) if you ask him how many things there are, it's always 2 - even if it's lots more than 2! He says 2 confidently when the answer really is 2, so I think he knows how many 2 looks like, but any more than 2 is also 2 for the moment..!

Isn't this stage wonderful!! (mind you, I've been saying that since he was born )

Paula71 · 06/01/2004 22:41

Um I don't wish to rain on this parade but these are children and not computers, they are not programmed to do certain things at certain times and this attitude of competitive mum is the reason that I don't go to the "Kids n Us" club.

Sorry if I sound a bit angry but I have, as some of you know, ds twins and it worries me when I read all this that they will be judged by, what seems to be "hothouse" kids. I only started letting my two colour-in and draw recently (they are 2) as I thought they were a bit young to be using crayons(and they attempt to draw each other and round bits of their bodies ie feet as well as the swirls etc.) And they have had Megablocks (big Lego) from the age of 1 with no adversity and in fact it has resulted in them doing really well in their recent 23-month review.

Had it not been for that positive review I would have read the comments on here and felt completely inadequate as a SAHM! Jeez, just ignore me, I am having a bad time of it and it isn't fair to take it out on you all but please remember that not all of us have the skills (I have no siblings and never really listened to friends with their babies, wish I had now! I suppose if I take them to the playgroup or whatever I would maybe make friends out this way but if I get all this thrown at me!)

Jimjams · 06/01/2004 22:47

Paula go onto the "what does your 2 year old know?" thread. You'll see that you can be my friend

Original poster

Hulababy · 07/01/2004 11:17

I didn't intend for this to get people's backs up at all. I was just simply curious. I am in no way at all concerned about DD's progress, anything but to be honest. She is doing just fab. I don't push her into anythiong. We just go with the flow and do things she wants to do. For example, she adores using the "pooter" so we use the Internet a lot, and some of her CDs. The colours thing was just an observation really.

Sorry if anyone is feeling bad about any of this thread; not intended at all. I am just nosey

OP posts:

throckenholt · 08/01/2004 08:00

My DS1 is 2.5 almost to the day, he knows what colours are but doesn't seem particularly bothered by them and is very inconsistent in naming them. Doesn't sort things by colour or type. Counting - he doesn't count by rote, but is very clear on the concept - especially 2 ! He is also pretty uninterested in drawing.

But he can screw in screws with a full sized screw driver, knock in nails with a full sized hammer (maybe a theme here ), and make things with real lego. He is also obsessed with "muck" which he puts in his tractor and trailer and moves around the house, even uses a digger to loasd the trailer!

Each to their own.

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