Problem Learning the Colors

It is kind of funny. Mt sonn does the same thing with his numbers and letters. Have you asked her teacher about it? I know that my son does things in daycare that he will not do at home, like recite his alphabet and numbers. Talk to her teacher and she may have a solution for you. I personally use fruit and vegetables to help my son. Red apple, green peas, yellow banana and such. It really works with him, plus he is learning to eat healthy food.

Please take her to the eye doctors and have her checked for color blindness. This may be why she is having a problem, if it is you don't need to frustrate her or yourself.
J.

I'm not sure if this would work, but you could try. My daughter's 25 months old now and knows all basic colors. I have a set of fish that you wet and stick on the wall in the bathtub, they're those foam things... anyway, they're all different colors. I taught her those colors by EVERY TIME she's in the tub, I show them to her and we go over and over. But she couldn't tell the colors of things that were NOT those fish. So what I do is I hold, say, the yellow fish against a yellow bottle of shampoo, and I say "what color is the shampoo? See it is the same color as this fish!" and she'll say "yellow". By doing that over and over for just the past two months, she can now look at anything even without the fish beside it and know the color. The only thing is she'll still call "pink" "Purple" and vice versa :) Hey, not bad for 2 months of trying, and bieng only 25 months old... find something she really likes that happen to be varying colors, flash cards may not be interesting enough, ya know? Her's were bought at Toys R Us so they'd have them at any toys r us... in a clear plastic canister in their bath toys section, only a few bucks. Because the fish are different types, like, there's sharks, dolphins, octopus, etc., and each is a different color with another color on the back. Because she's also learning the different names for types of fish, she finds them interesting and learned the colors rather easily that way to my surprise! Honestly, on THE FIRST DAY I began teaching her colors using those fish, she had almost every color down by the end of THAT bath!!! Give it a try, couldn't hurt!

Don't worry about. What I've done is evertime I go pass a color I say the color. For example, let say she has a pink wall and blue in her room. Everytime you go into the room you point to the wall and say the color and have her say it after you. Or take the flash cards that have colors on them and put them on a wall in her room everyday go over the colors. she will pick it up. It works with lots of patience. Good luck....

She's only three years old, and knows her numbers and letters. It's clear that she's been focusing on learning those, which is a lot of hard work. For her to not know her colors at only three years old is perfectly normal. It's quite possible that she does know more colors than you think she does, and she's simply not choosing to express it.

So no, you have nothing to worry about. Don't pressure her or she'll be even more resistant to showing off her colors. Maybe when you're helping her get dressed, you can offer her two different colored tops. Ask her if she'd like the purple one, or the blue one, and see what she says and chooses. Make it a game for her. But do NOT stress out about it.

My son had his eyes examined at 31/2. You need a ped DR...they are really great!! They were able to do a color blind test by asking him if he saw the pictures in the circle of "fuzz" and what were they. It's very easy and I'm sure it would put your mind at ease.
We were able to find out we needed glasses due to a lazy eye/far sightness....no wonder why he was laying down a lot to see things up close!!
Hope this helps.

Hi. I work at a pre-school. There are some children in our school that know their colors, and there are some that don't. In September, when we get new students, some know their colors pretty well (only mixing up a couple of them) and some call every color by the same name. Their ages in September vary from having just turned three or about to turn three (by Sept. 30th is the law around here) to being almost four (which can be as soon as October). Your daughter just turned 3, so you shouldn't expect her to know her colors. In fact, it's pretty darn amazing that she knows her letters and numbers. By the time she's four or five, she will probably know them all. What might help, even though I don't think you should be concerned (how important is it really that she know her colors? They aren't building blocks like counting and letters), is if you say, "Today is red day" and you dress her in red and point out red things all day. And so on for all of the colors. But seriously, the kids in my school that know their letters and numbers are the first to learn or know the colors, and as long as she can match colors, like sort objects of the same color into the same pile, then that's fine.

Hi I.,

I was a preschool teacher (until I had my daughter). I had a little boy in my class that didn't know any colors at age 5, so please do not be worried. What I did with this child was teach him one color at a time. I didn't want to overwhelm him. Then once he recognized a color, we'd play and I Spy game, trying to find that color. By the end of that week, he was pointing out the color green to me. Be patient, she will learn.

Try using colors in everyday conversation, so she doesn't realize it is a learning experience.
Like when it's time for bed, and you tell her to get teddy, tell her "grab red teddy"
Or put on your blue jacket... Look at the pretty pink flower. Don't worry about asking her to repeat you, it'll sink in.

I agree with everyone else... I wouldn't worry however this was my trick with my daughter. M&M's you guess the colors you get the M&M. We started with flash cards with fun pictures and once she started to get the idea we did the M&M trick.

I.,

I wouldn't worry about this for a while yet. Try to keep in mind that when we were little, letters, numbers and colors were on the kindergarten agenda. Just becaue we push that stuff to earlier ages doesn't mean every kid will respond the same way. She may also be resisting because you're trying too hard. Put the flash cards and books away for a while, and let it be. Try again in a few months.

If you are concerned about color blindness, try playing a mtaching game like memory, where she has to match two pictures of the same shape and color. If she can pick out that two items are the same color, even if she can't name them, then she's fine. She may respond better to something like this, since it's a game with Mommy, and not a learning exercise.

Talk to her pre-school teachers. If they're not worried, then you probably don't need to be, either.

J.

No, I wouldn't worry too much. She'll get it in due time. No matter how much we help our children, they will learn at their own pace. Your daughter already knows alot at three so imagine how much she'll know at five! My two and a half year old son isn't even talking yet. He says a couple words and that's it. I think his younger sister is holding him back in a way because she is 1 1/2 and they are only 11 months apart. Hang in there. With so many serious problems we as parents face daily, this is minor. You are doing everything you can to help her and that's what's most important. I have four kids and the oldest two are school aged. I know deep down I did everything I could to help them before they started school. They never been to daycare. My oldest attended pre-school and my other went straight to kindergarten. The teachers were amazed at the fact that he knew how to write his alphabets and numbers as well as name. He could also count from 1-100. He knew all his colors.

You should take her to have her eyes examined. If she recognizes yellow she doesnt sound color blind but there is no harm in making sure
good luck
oh yea - try association with fruit or some other real life (not pictured) thing she likes.

I.,
I am an elementary teacher and believe me you have nothing to worry about!! She is well ahead of the game already knowing her letters and numbers! She is a very young three and it is not developmentally appropriate for them to know and identify their colors, so let her do it at her own pace. If there are concerns of color blindness take some items out of very similar shades (not brown and yellow) more like brown and blue or yellow and light orange and have her separate them. If she can do that, then you just need to step back and wait until she is ready. M&Ms are really good for learning colors and so are colored stepping stones and playing a game like twister (but no tricks). She is really ahead of the game!!! Great job so far. Also, only focus on one color at a time.

Good luck
R.