2/Y Can’t Recognize Colors

he is obviously not interested in colors. he is only 2, dont push it or fret. Kids these days are learning way more before kindergarten because of frantic parents fueling the ridiculous child intelligence competition race. Relax, he will get it in time let your child be a kid not in a rat race.

4 moms found this helpful

Please don't get too upset at your son right now - colors are one of those things that not every kid gets at 2, some don't even get them down until they are 4. Your post to me makes it sound like you are drilling or testing him - I would just casually point things out like green trees, blue sky, etc. Eventually he will get it. Not every kid learns everything at the same time in the same way.

3 moms found this helpful

I think your expectations are WAY to high, and that's not good for your son. First of all, he's 2. 2 years old is way to young for you to be getting upset with him for not knowing colors. And it's not good for his emotinal development to see you getting upset about something like this.

As someone else pointed out just point out colors of things around you, but don't expect him to do the same. For example, when he's getting dressed point out the color of his shirt. Or have him pick out a shirt by saying, do you want the blue one or the gree one.... He may just point and say that one, but he is learning.

Just give it time. He's still too young to know colors. And for your son's sake, please don't get upset over this.

3 moms found this helpful

He doesn't sound like he's color blind to me. It sounds more like he is just uninterested.

Please be careful to not turn your questions into quizzes. It can turn a happy child into an adversarial one. Learning things should be a TOTALLY fun thing for him. No drills no quizzes. Just point out colors to him and incorporate the use of color names into your daily lives... no quizzes.

Give him the choice of 2 shirts or 2 different pairs of socks.. ask him if he wants to wear the red shirt or the yellow shirt, the blue socks or the white socks, or whatever. Point out to him how pretty that yellow flower is. Comment on how soft his black stuffed dog is. But please no quizzes.

3 moms found this helpful

My friend has twins who were almost 3 1/2 before they were interested in colors. To them every answer was red. My DD is 3 and has known her colors, shapes, and numbers since before 2 but she refuses to have any interest in the alphabet. She will however, talk to you about her friend Jonah (???) who lives in China and how she visits China and can't wait to get back to China. Kids learn what they are interested in first. Plain and simple. Maybe colors are just not his priority right now.

2 moms found this helpful

At that age colors are not important to the child. In a way they do not care. That does not mean a child can't recognize colors. In time , as a child's mind expands, recognizing colors will come. Just keep saying like.." let's play with the blue blocks"... or ..." today we put on the red socks" in everyday conversation. I would not worry too much about this too much.

2 moms found this helpful

Take a break, there truly is no need to get upset over this. Teaching/learning should be fun at this age, no need to teach like it's a big contest.

Two is still very young & kids will learn what they are interested in when they are ready. I say don't quiz him just point out different things with different colors; isn't the green grass pretty, I like that blue car, do you want to wear your red shirt or your yellow shirt. Since he loves the color yellow, play a game of finding all the yellow m&m's, focusing on what he likes will help.

2 moms found this helpful

I wouldn't worry about it. My almost three year old son thinks every color is green. He is also very smart in other areas, but he just doesn't care about colors right now. I'm not stressing about it and neither should you!

2 moms found this helpful

Who says he can't recognize colors?
He's 2.
He gives you an answer at random when you question so maybe you are worrying too much.
I know my daughter also loved yellow.
Not the color....just saying it.

Think about being a little kid and trying to let it roll off your tongue.
No need to get upset about it.

He recognizes more than you think.

No offense and best wishes.

2 moms found this helpful

Do not worry yet...My son is three and still does not get the colors right like my DD did right away. Keep praciticing and focus on one color at a time so he can learn. I was concerned about my son being color blind to but feel better about it because all though he gives me a hard time about them I observed him take the caps off 10 different markers and when I asked him later to put everything away he put all the color tops back on their markers. correctly. It takes time. You could do an excercise like that to see if he matches colors up correctly. If he doesn't get the hang of it then talk to the pediatrician :)

1 mom found this helpful

I didn't recognize all the colors until 1st grade, and I'm not color blind. Take what he knows and build on it, but for goodness sake, don't be upset at your 2yo for something like this, it's wasted energy.

1 mom found this helpful

The part of the brain that processes colors can take up to 3 years to develop in a normal child. If that isn't the case he could be colorblind. I know several male family members of mine are fully colorblind and only see in black and white. Are any of your family color blind? the mom is the carrier in this one.

1 mom found this helpful

Honestly, it sounds to me like he's just being a stubborn 2 year old. You say you've been "teaching" him - is it possible that you've been pushing it too hard? He might just be tired of it, which I suspect because you say he doesn't even look at the picture and just says whatever. Try backing off this teaching for a little while and see what happens. Then the next time he has a check up, mention this concern to the doctor and see if she/he is concerned about color blindness. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

I totally agree that you are stressing out way too much on this. It sounds like he's ahead of the learning curve for his age in almost everything already. Give him some slack on the colors. If you want him to learn things, try teaching as a matter of course during the other activities of the day. For example, when serving a meal or snack, talk about the colors of the foods he's being served. Go on walks and talk about what you're seeing along the way, using the names of the colors, sizes, and other concepts you are wanting him to learn. Play with him and talk about the colors, and other aspects of the toys you are using. A good game for colors is to have some lightweight plastic toys that you can hold one up and ask him to name the color, then toss it for him to catch. This game works better if you could have several children near his age over to play so it would have a challenge to it.
Children under the age of five think in very concrete terms, not abstract terms. Trying to teach them in a sit down, flash card type of way isn't very effective. Be patient, learn to teach at all moments of the day through normal activities, and don't expect him to be proficient at everything too early. He has a whole lifetime ahead of him for learning, and he needs some time to just be a two year old and have fun too.

1 mom found this helpful

Don't worry! At about this age our daycare teacher told us she thought our daughter was color-blind! I freaked. I found and bought a test for young children online that cost about $100. She saw color just fine!! So that this teacher wouldn't cause this anxiety again for other parents, I donated the test to the daycare...

My daughter said "yellow" to everything for a long time around the age of 2-3. I just thought she really liked yellow...lol. Her older cousins came in town and they got the biggest kick out of it. They would always ask her what color everything was and all she would say was yellow. They would all laugh. The next color was blue...same thing happen. Take your time. No worries needed at this age. It will all come in time.

He may be color blind. Both of my boys are color blind, and I think its harder for us as perents to deal with than it is for the kids. Your son is also still young. I would talk to your Dr. about it and go from there, I would not stress on it too much though! Good Luck!

I really don't think you need to worry. If you take him to his regular doctor visits, the doctor should be able to recognize a delay, which I'm sure it isn't. I've never really thought too much about it, but my son is 2 1/2 and doesn't know his colors...everything is blue and only blue. He, only recenlty started talking, so I'm more focused on noticing his verbal skills at the moment.

Mine does this but says "blue" -- I am considering it a phase because he can definitely recognize the difference in colors (for example his entire Thomas wooden railway set -- he knows the difference by looking at the trains and easily distinguishes identical looking ones). He just turned 2 but my daughter knew all of her colors way before 2...I am chalking it up to him being a stubborn little man and we will just take our time working it out! Good luck to you.

Don't stress yet, but next time you see the doctor, ask about color blindness just to see what they think. You are still well within the range of normal.

My guess is he's color blind. Very common in males.

My daughter does this as well. It is usually when she is tired of doing flashcards, she will give random colors while zoning out :). Has he ever been able to recognize colors? If he just hasn't learned them yet, don't stress, he will learn, just keep working with him but don't get frustrated with him. My nephew was the same way and within three months he knew all his colors while my cousin was diagnosed as color blind after not knowing his colors at the age of five so don't stress now but if it continues it may be something worth looking into.

I would stop worrying about it....from the fact that you say you are "very upset" about it...I would say you are pushing this and he simply isn't interested. As some of the other Mama's have said...use colors in your other interactions with him ( the blue sky, the green tree the orange ball etc). and don't make a big deal out of it with him.

Give it some time. If she is recognizing shapes and numbers, then she is off to a good start. Just keep pointing out various colors to her and try to make it as fun as possible. I know that you want her to do well but she's still very young.

My daughter didn't know her colors till she started Mother's Day Out at 2.5. They had a color each week that they learned and now she knows all of them. It's not unusual to not know the colors at 2...

My first daughter knew her colors before she was 18 months. My second daughter is now 2 1/2 and she has been having difficulty with her colors too and I began to wonder if she could be color blind. But then I realized she only had difficulty with colors if I asked her an open ended question such as "what color is the apple?" and she would just guess different color names. If I asked her to point to the red apple, green apple, etc. she could do that. I also asked her to sort her blocks or her beads by color into bowls and she was able to do that. Maybe try this if you haven't already.

He may be color blind. Have it checked out.