# "Normal" age for naming colors?



## CawMama (Nov 4, 2005)

At what age did your toddler start identifying colors accurately?


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## mamaveggie (Mar 24, 2007)

Right around her 2nd birthday she started naming them correctly. Before that, everything was green.


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## nancy926 (Mar 10, 2003)

I think mine were around 18-20 mos. They could not "say" the words for colors, but if you asked them to bring you a yellow Lego, or an orange crayon, or whatever, they could.

It may have taken a few more months for them to get colors like black, white, grey, etc. Maybe they were 2 years old, or a bit more, before they knew those. DD2 is 2.5 and knows all of the colors (well, not ALL like 64-Crayolas all, but ykwim) and can speak the words sort of understandably.


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

I would say around 20-22 months? My DS doesn't really talk much and doesn't know his colors but most of his friends do at 21 months. DS can ID shapes.


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## Sylith (Apr 15, 2002)

DS1 knew colors by around 18 months. DS2 is 20 months now and everything is blue


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## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

DS1 knew his colors really early, somewhere around 18 months. DD finally started reluctantly answering me (correctly) just after she turned 2. She's the type of child that doesn't like to be "drilled" on things like colors, letters, etc. and clams up when you ask her.


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## crazydiamond (May 31, 2005)

I guess mine was a late bloomer.

She didn't know any colors until 28 months or so. She learned them all very quickly, though, and by 30-32 mos knew all the colors including light and dark variations, turquoise/teal, lavender, etc. I can't recall her getting any colors wrong in the last few months, either. So I guess it took her awhile, but she got proficient at it in a hurry.


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## snitker79 (Apr 7, 2007)

My dd could identify her colors early on. Pretty accurate around 18mo.

I wouldn't worry too much. All kids develop differently. Just keep including colors, shapes, numbers, letters ect into your daily activities and they'll catch on.


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## LizLizard (Jul 16, 2007)

My kiddo has no interest in color names, and she's 20 months. However a friend of hers that is also 20 months can pick out several colors accurately. Mine's too busy climbing on the furniture and finding things in the house to hurt herself with.


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## AddysMom (Nov 24, 2007)

she could tell me the colors and shapes around 15mo. She spoke really early though. My friends little who is bright still doesnt seem to know them. Goes with the whole every child is different saying.


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## ryleeee (Feb 9, 2005)

yeah...probably around 16-18 months.
for awhile everything was purple or green though, because those are his favourite colours


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## DiannaK (Jul 12, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Carrin* 
At what age did your toddler start identifying colors accurately?

I think it depends on when you 'introduce' them ... I suppose.

DD knows PINK ... for sure ... and will point out pink socks, pink balls, etc.
She will also sometimes holler "purple" .. when she sees something.

She will pick out a few shapes as well ... mostly stars and hearts. I had to explain to her that a heart was not an apple!!


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## DiannaK (Jul 12, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LizLizard* 
My kiddo has no interest in color names, and she's 20 months. However a friend of hers that is also 20 months can pick out several colors accurately. Mine's too busy climbing on the furniture and finding things in the house to hurt herself with.









oh yeah .. forgot about this ....
If I catch Rachel in the act, and ask her what she is doing .. she will just smile, and say "climbing, mommy, climbing" with a HUGE grin on her face!


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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

Ours picked up on colors really early (like before 12 months), in terms of us asking her to point to the whatever color piece, etc. But it was probably close to 16 months or so that she started using the signs for the colors and would point to something on her own and sign the color for it. She still can't say the words for all the colors yet, but at 23 months she knows the basic ones (red, blue, orange, yellow, purple, green) really well. We're working on white, grey, black, and brown still though.


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## katheek77 (Mar 13, 2007)

DD is 20 months old, and just recently has begun identifying white, green, and pink.

She does not say the colors (she doesn't say much of anything), but we have a colors puzzle, some crayons, and she will hand you the correct piece if you ask for one of the three above. Everything else is a head shake. p

I'm going to go for another color this week and see if she picks it up.


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## seeingeyecat (Oct 17, 2005)

about a month ago, just after her second birthday. They came all at once. She learned "teal" today.


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## mom2miranda (Mar 13, 2008)

My DD learned her colors around 16 months when we started fingerpainting and I would have her say the color before we opened it to paint with. Of course she could still use it if she got it wrong







. she then transferred the info to other objects. every kid is different though.


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## Mama Poot (Jun 12, 2006)

Paddy started understanding colors shortly after he turned 2. However he can't say "orange", so all orange things are currently red


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## Keeping up (Apr 7, 2004)

My 26 month old was very good by 20 months choosing the proper colour if I asked him - i.e. please get the blue block. It probably took to 24 months for him to say the colours properly (most of the time) - i.e. what colour is this block (or in our case, Thomas trains). We still have a few issues on picking out some colours on certain objects.

We do practice it a lot - even today at the grocery store, what colour is the cucumber, what colour is the carrot - and the red pepper was an apple until we asked a few more questions. Not as much for teaching colours, as something to talk about. [I also ask him to find certain veggies or fruits in the bins.]


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## Tobi (Jun 14, 2006)

I'm sure that the parents on the "other side" of the learning spectrum will not be so quick to name when this came for their kids. It is important that they know the basic 8 at 3 years old.


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## guestmama9944 (Jun 3, 2007)

Wow I'm just a slacker then. My girls just turned 2 and I haven't really even bothered introducing colors. They're just now getting verbal enough to actually understand the words they say and colors are really on the bottom of my list of words I'd like them to use right now!

In my house we apparently enjoy skirting the far edge of "normal"


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## georgiegirl1974 (Sep 20, 2006)

My DD turns 2 tomorrow, and she's just beginning to be consistently accurate with naming the basic colors (red, blue, orange, yellow, green, pink, purple). She's known pink for a while. She could bring you "x" color for the past few months though. I think she's pretty average.


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## Eben'sMama (Jun 29, 2006)

We just "introduced" colors about a month ago, at 22 mos, as DS just started expressing an interest in knowing them, and was calling everything that's yellow "school bus"--schoolbus cup, schoolbus (mustard) bottle, etc.







(schoolbus smiley?) We don't believe in drilling him on things like this, so we just followed his lead, and within a week, he knew them all.


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## ILoveMyBabyBird (Sep 2, 2006)

i haven't really started w/colors yet, we've focused more on numbers/letters, but the fingerpainting is a good idea, i''ll have to but some


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## GooeyRN (Apr 24, 2006)

Around 2ish.


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## NYCVeg (Jan 31, 2005)

Dd is almost 22 months and I've really seen an amazing development of her ability to name colors in the last few weeks. She's pretty much always accurate with red, blue, yellow, green, pink, and white. Purple and orange are hit or miss.She gets very excited about naming her sippy cups: pink water! yellow water! blue water! etc. x At around 20 months, everything was "red," except for her blue sippy cup, which was actually blue!

Do you have the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear? It's rather grating (to me--I like plot), but I think it really helped dd nail down colors.


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

This comes up periodically here. I do think that typically those who think their kiddo did it early or average reply more than those who are later. Truth is they want some color names by kindergarten. This isn't a biggie and has a lot to do with interest along with a bit to do with parent persistance in some kids.

Some kids are interested young even if the parent doesn't really say much at all. Other kids aren't even if the parent really wants to "teach" it. Some others won't take an interest until it is directly introduced. I personally don't think it matters, other things were more interesting, so I never focused on colors. I did read brown bear and such so they heard colors. One kiddo had all his colors by 18 months; he was just interested. The other didn't....and didn't....and didn't. He was counting well before he got his colors--I think it was about 2.5. He finally got interested I guess.


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## lexbeach (Mar 6, 2002)

Gosh, I don't think I've ever even mentioned the idea of colors to ds . . . he's 16 months old. I have no idea when my older kids started learning colors, but it must have been before they were two because I know that they definitely had favorite colors by their second birthday.

Lex


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## tubulidentata2 (Aug 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wendyjoe* 
Wow I'm just a slacker then. My girls just turned 2 and I haven't really even bothered introducing colors. They're just now getting verbal enough to actually understand the words they say and colors are really on the bottom of my list of words I'd like them to use right now!

In my house we apparently enjoy skirting the far edge of "normal"









We're deliberate slackers








. For now, we are taking an unschooling approach to education, so I talk about the colors when it is natural to do so, but I don't sit and rehearse with her. DD can identify the colors that she likes







. I have absolutely no doubt that she will pick up all of the main colors naturally within the next year, but I feel no need to teach her something that comes so naturally.

If I end up mistaken







, I am sure I can quickly teach her the main colors by the time she is "supposed" to know them. So we are not completely committed to unschooling yet







.


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## Jen+2monkeys (Oct 11, 2007)

I am a slacker too. I never really "taught" my DD her colors. At her 3yr Dr. appointment her pedi asked her to name colors and she knew all of them (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, gray, black, brown), although at that point she still got green and blue mixed up about 25% of the time. Her doc didn't think this was a big concern. Now at 3.5yo she doesn't get them mixed up anymore. And she knows which colors to mix to make orange, green, purple, pink, brown, and gray. When you show her one of these colors, she will say "red and yellow make orange", etc, instead of just orange or whatever color. It's kinda funny.

DS is 22mo, and I know he knows blue, but I don't think he knows any other colors, and I'm not in a rush to teach him. He will pick it up, just like his sister did.


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## elizaveta (Jul 1, 2005)

My daughter is two and a half and she knows red and green, but I haven't bothered much teaching them. Sometimes I try to point out the colours we are using when we draw or play with blocks, but I don't always remember to do that


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## Mosaic (Jun 20, 2005)

My DD is 20 months old, and she knows yellow and, um, yellow.







She kinda *gets* other colors and will repeat the name or find other things that match, but really the only one she really knows is yellow. And we haven't been working on it, either, but I think they do once a day at daycare.


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## JANmom13 (Sep 15, 2007)

They work on this at my daycare a lot.
My daughter turns 3 in a month. She is off and on. Some days she can get them all right, more than once while on other days she doesn't. I think it depends on her mood, and whether she wants to play the "color game". I know for sure she can count to 15, and sometimes she purposely goes, "2,4,6,8" or "1, 5,6,8" etc.

I think sometimes at this age they understand but aren't always in the mood to cooperate.


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## greenmamapagan (Jan 5, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tubulidentata2* 
We're deliberate slackers







. For now, we are taking an unschooling approach to education, so I talk about the colors when it is natural to do so, but I don't sit and rehearse with her. DD can identify the colors that she likes







. I have absolutely no doubt that she will pick up all of the main colors naturally within the next year, but I feel no need to teach her something that comes so naturally.

If I end up mistaken







, I am sure I can quickly teach her the main colors by the time she is "supposed" to know them. So we are not completely committed to unschooling yet







.

OK, so maybe colours are more important in our lifestyle then? We consider ourselves unschoolers too and one of DD's first words (as in within the first 50) was "purple". I assume because I'd say things like "oh what a lovely purple flower" when she stopped to look at a garden bed or ask her if she wanted to wear the red or purple pants etc etc. Seems to me if you talk about colours when it's "natural" too, that's actually pretty often









To answer the OP, she's 22 months & identifies all primary & plenty of other colours (nothing like "teal" though). She does get confused by close shades of orange & yellow. Fair enough too.


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## Smalls181 (May 12, 2006)

Scarlett was just about 14-15 months when she could name all of the colors, but she wasn't good at identifying them. Now at 24 months, she has the 6 basic colors down, and white. One of the things that really helped her was sorting laundry with me.


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## tubulidentata2 (Aug 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmamapagan* 
OK, so maybe colours are more important in our lifestyle then? We consider ourselves unschoolers too and one of DD's first words (as in within the first 50) was "purple". I assume because I'd say things like "oh what a lovely purple flower" when she stopped to look at a garden bed or ask her if she wanted to wear the red or purple pants etc etc. Seems to me if you talk about colours when it's "natural" too, that's actually pretty often









We do this, too, and two of DD's first words were "purple" and "orange", but I just don't think all children are focused on learning colors right away. I think it is mainly about what children are interested in at a given age, and nothing to worry about. Children very interested in colors may be showing a budding interest in art, and perhaps children who end up less drawn to art and beauty don't focus on colors at an early age, but instead can identify different breeds of dogs or types of birds. I just personally don't fret about DD learning certain things at a certain age because she certainly isn't lacking overall in her learning









ETA: Mainly, I just don't want the "slackers" to feel bad, since I don't think it is important to "teach" something as natural as colors.


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## Abarat (Jan 22, 2007)

My DS was calling everything green around 24 mo and so we worked on colours one day and he learned about 5 or 6 that day after just a little work. He also learned about half a dozen shapes that day too. He's the type that he'll learn it when and if he wants to. If he doesn't want to work on colours, etc. he just randomly says colours, letters, etc. and then ignores you. LOL


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## thixle (Sep 26, 2007)

Around a year. And I'm one of those moms that describes everything, and talks all the time to the kiddo... As in "Do you see the red bird?" "Hand mommy the green rag." Definately not a flash-card family








But dd was talking well enough to be understood by strangers at that age, too


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## ShiningStar (Jul 8, 2006)

DD is 25 mos and becoming more accurate identifying colors. Last month, everything was blue. She's better at getting the red crayon, than saying the color of the crayon. She became more interested in colors after she got the book "Freight Train".


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## ceay05 (Oct 9, 2006)

My son was just tested by a developemental and speech therapist. She said it is NOT important to be able to name colors, but be able to match them or point when asked. She said to actually name them, around 3 1/2.

My son will be 3 in May and know colors, but to actually get him to tell you, good luck! We have this with counting and basically anything to do with learning. We try to do fun approaches and nothing worked. He HATES books for the most part. This is why we had him tested. He tested on a 3.5 year old level, so right on track. She said he is learning things is own way.









I feel he is pretty behind "comparing" to most of the other kids I know, but they assured me he was just fine.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

I just wanted to say, that the overall trend seen in this thread is _not_ the norm. I don't know if it's b/c those with LO that haven't learned colors yet don't want to post, or if it's just that the AP/NFL way of parenting leads to early color learning, but it is perfectly normal for a 2-3 yo to not know colors yet. So, if your LO still doesn't know all their colors you don't need to panic.

DS started with IDing orange (his favorite color) around 14-15 mo and learned them all by the time he was 22 mo. He likes to point out what color various cars are.


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## JANmom13 (Sep 15, 2007)

I think if there are older brothers and sisters, especially if they are into "teaching" their younger sibling, then sometimes they learn faster. I can't recall when my oldest learned her colors. I do remember them really stressing colors in pre-K and K.


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## tiffer23 (Nov 7, 2005)

Milo is almost 2 and he knows some. He can say more if he's identifying something he wants. I had a sucker the other day (he'd already had one) and he kept going "want yellow!" (mine was yellow) lol. When asked he can't name but 2-3, when he wants something he can name about 10-12.


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## knowerofnada (Dec 4, 2006)

At around 14 months, DD could accurately hand me the five colors of her plastic play balls when requested by color.

She's been pretty much non-verbal until about three months ago. Some of her first words at 22 months were her accurately naming the colors of red, blue, purple, yellow, pink, white, & green. She doesn't pronounce them perfectly.


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## hellyaellen (Nov 8, 2005)

kellen is two and a half and he's just showing an interest in colors. he gets them right a lot of the time but not always....


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## artemis80 (Sep 8, 2006)

He could point them out around 16 months. Now he can say "blue," "pink," "green," "red" and "yellow."


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## Sydnee (May 1, 2004)

DD is 22 months, and is just started to recognize her colors. My fave books are "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and the "Board Book of Colors".


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## Pixiemama13 (Nov 22, 2018)

DD IS 16 months old and has been naming everything pink for a month. And names green, red, purple, and blue mostly accurately. She confused red and green , and says pink for purple sometimes but corrects herself too. I didnt realize how early it was to be naming colors until today. Hearing her say "purpuuo" is so cute 😭😍


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