colours, counting, alphabet

[jobekal]

at what approximate age should they know their colours, learn to count, learn the aplhabet

from roughly about 2 years depending on child - HTH

My LO's have all been able to count to 10 and know there colours by this age

I think it depends on the child and how much they practice these things.

DC1 2.1 says some colours says some numbers but doesn't know letters.

DC2 2.2 same as dc1.

DC3 20 mths knows most colours, can say numbers but not in order. doesn'tknow the alphabet.

I'd say that nearer pre-school age would be more realistic 2.5- 3yrs.

PS DC4 (all except 1 minded btw!) is 4yrs and still struggles to recognise letters.

The only easy answer is "When they do".

3 weeks

agree with raspberry!

I think from 1 - 5 might be the range of normal?! My ds is five and (ahem) a very bright boy who can tell you which of the planets are the inner planets, the outer planets, which are the gas giants, etc etc etc, however he has only this year become reliable on his alphabet. It depends ALOT on whether they are interested or not.

I suppose I would assume that colours might be easier for them and come earlier than the others, possibly...

Message withdrawn

Agree with others - it really varies.

Given you used the word 'should' rather than could - I'd say maybe 3 for colours and counting and 4 for alphabet recognition (actually recognising the letters not just reciting ABC)?

ds (2.3) he recognises all his letters bar a couple and can say some of them but he can't recite 'A,B,C' etc the way many children his age can.

He knows primary colours plus orange, pink, black, white and can now say them but has recognised the primary colours for a few months. I don't think this is unusual espec. for a child who goes to nursery. Possibly the letter recognition is but he is really into letters.

He can recognise when there are two of things (e.g. he sees two dogs and says 'two dogs') but he can't actually say 1,2,3 and he doesn't recognise numbers yet. Not sure whether that is typical but I suspect the reciting normally comes before counting?

My youngest is truly g and t or is that t and g and knows all colours, including things like turquoise, can do basic addition and subtraction and knows greek alphabet.

She celebrates her second birthday next week

DD started with colours from about 20 months, but was erratic about whether she got them right until she was 2ish. Numbers -she has counted to ten from a similar age, but the numbers were meaningless to her - it was like saying a nursery rhyme. She is 2.5 now and is starting to grasp what they mean (ie there are 3 biscuits on the plate ) She now counts to 15 but only really understands up to about 4 or 5 if that makes sense. Alphabet - she still has no clue, but I can't say I've really tried to make her know it. We mention letters here and there but nothing heavy!

I dont think there is an 'age' they normally know things, like Honoria said, it depends if kids want to learn. DS (2.9) knows all his colours, shapes, animals and can tell you what absolutely any type of vehicle is, but can only count 1-5 in a rhyming way and count 1-3 'things' ie 2 socks, 3 cars etc.
DD tbh I cant really remember, she is 7 in november and has only grasped the alphabet about a year and a half ago (when she started learning to write at school), yet could tell you the workings of a human body better than many adults.

It doesn't matter, they all get there in the end. It also depends what environment they grow up in, i.e. children growing up in bilingual families can take a bit longer because they get a bit muddled. DS is 22 months and can count up to 10 in French and in English, but everything is blue at the moment! Sometimes red, if it's a bus or something like that. He knows a lot of animals in both French and English. He doesn't know the alphabet at all, but he can recognise (read? not really) a few words like Maman and Dad, and Goal (because of his favorite book!).

BLUEberry pancake - I think the thinking every colour is blue thing must be really normal as I know lots of kids did that (incl ds). Ds did call everything blue at around your ds's age and really soon after got it and worked out the other colours so I reckon he will suss it all out really soon.
Agree though that it doesn't really matter - just thought you'd find that interesting

thanks it sounds like i should hurry up and start teahing them a bit more, another mark in the bad mummy book

oh. DS has just turned 3 and has no idea about colours at all - can recognise his name though and do load of other things well - might he be colour blind?

Jobekal, tbh I didtn teach my DS any of this, once he first mentioned colours I started to ask him about cars colours (see the theme??he loves cars) and realised he knew many of them. I asked him today to count for me and he counted to 7, then asked pointed out the number 3 and 2 for me on the clock. I have no idea how he knows!!! I think part of it is his sister, she likes to teavh him things (she is seven) and some of it MUST be from television. We read books but not ones that cover things like numbers and colours. Maybe get him a dvd/video that helps teach him, I wish I knew what DS watched that helped!!

As for the bad mummy thing, as long as your Lo is happy and loved, I doubt not teaching him colours and numbers equates bad parenting.

Same experience roughly as others for numbers and colours, but DD is def one of the most able pupils in her Y1 class, just turned 6, and still gets a little confused about some of the letters of the alphabet (Y and U, especially). So far none of my DC knew to alphabet or to read more than a few letters of alphabet b4 they started school.

i don't think you should teach children of a very young age anything. With dd(now 3.4) i read lots of books and always described things and said the colour. as in 'oh look at the red car', not just that's a car. But mainly we read lots of books, always instigated by her. I had loads of books with lots of words and pictures in. She IMO and her pre-schools knows lots of things and I believe it's because of her books. She loved them. Her alphabet was learnt from a puzzle. She can now name most letters and something that goes with it, eg P for penguin.

But I don't teach anything. Teaching to me is sitting them down and making them learn.

I agree with others - if you sit down and teach them things at this age it seems to be too pressured - certainly if I've ever tried to teach ds anything he gets really turned off it.

I think they just absorb stuff by osmosis and incorporating things like colours and numbers in to your conversations and daily life in a subtle way is a much nicer way to provide a little help without pushing.

You are so not a bad mummy for not teaching anything - quite the opposite imho!

2 and a half year old for a while when looking at books says look orange flower, her sister getting on for aged 4 doesn't understand colours at all,

when we do rhymes with counting in or we are playing with bricks and i count them she says three four, one three four but so she can't count but has only just started saying these numbers,

2 and a half year old counts to five and was counting to three about 3 months ago

2 and a half year old recognises circle but no other shapes, older one doesn't know any shapes at all

2 and a half year old does get colours wrong, but when playing with bricks if she shows me a red brick, i say thats a nice bright red brick, can you find some more red ones, and she gets me all the red ones, and the same with all the other colours and today i was reading to her and she pointed to an orange flower and said look, flower, red flower, no orange flower

they all learn different things at different ages. In the end they will all know the same. Some just take longer to start off. Just keep going with how you're doing things and I'm sure it'll pay off.(so says the mother of 2 dc's one aged 6months the other aged 3 years, not sure i'm qualified to give advice tbh)

my ds is 2.5 has delayed speech but does know colours blue green purple yellow orange white

he can read numbers and letters and he knows letters and numbers but he does not speak in sentences and is advanced apparently as he can open book and say each letter and number speech therapist said some dont know this untill at school so dont worry to much all dc learn different things at different rates

i'm awaiting my ds to talk in sentences but as i say all learn different things at different times dont compare your dc to othersif you did you would find they could probably do stuff others at that age cant do

Eddas I don't agree that teaching them things is sitting them down to learn. You can direct their learning and make it fun, using games. I used flashcards to encourage speech as part of a game, also learning animals by visits to farms etc. Colours I have been teaching through day to day objects and in a game where they are asked to find something of a particular colour for stickers. The DC enjoy it and are learning quickly. If they learned everything by osmosis then how would they recognise letters and numbers as counting is aural not visual without books or posters. There is also a vast difference between being able to count and understanding numbers in counting. Just as there is a vast difference between being able to recite the alphabet and knowing which is what letter.

Eddas there are not two individuals on the planet who know exactly the same!
Children like adults have different abilities, some will be bright and willing, others not bright and willing, others bright but idle and others will be not so bright and idle. It will more than likely be the willing ones that will do well academically. Interest is they key to good learning experiences.

Ok but all I know is ds can count 2 of things very consistently and I've never sat down and taught him that and nor does he watch any tv that would have helped - rather it must have just arisen from conversations we have e.g. look ds there are 2 dogs etc

I don't know about Eddas but all I was saying is that I don't think it is necessary to sit and semi-formally teach toddlers when you can incorporate key things into everyday conversations.

I think ds learned colours from car-spotting discussions (ooh look at that fab yellow car etc) and playing with duplo alongside me.