When I can I teach...

[AFWife]

When does a toddler start to pick up on things like colors or shapes? DS is 18mo and we haven't really tried yet because I'm not sure if he'll even care.

[Marissamom]

no harm in trying. my 17 month old kind of knows red and blue, and can sometimes pick out other colors. I don't think she knows any shapes yet, but they may come soon.

[Novus]

DS is 17 mos & knows some of the basic colors (red, black, blue, green, yellow, white) and shapes (star, circle, heart). We didn't really try to teach them to him, but he learned the colors because he has some Thomas trains & we identify them by color instead of name. He picked up on the shapes because he loves pointing things out in books & a lot of his have those three shapes in them.

[mckittre]

When he's interested? My son picked up all his colors right around 17 months. But he liked it. I described objects by color in every day life, and he enjoyed pointing them out. He's 20 months now and still could care less about shapes (he knows what a star is, but that's about it). I haven't really tried to teach him either thing. Certainly it can never hurt to describe the colors and shapes of things as you go about your day - maybe he'll be interested now, and maybe not.

[crunchy_mommy]

DS is fascinated with shapes & colors, I didn't teach them to him but he started asking me about it around 17 months I think? He's 20mos now & knows circle, diamond, moon (semicircle), star, heart, octogon etc. His colors he gets mixed up with still sometimes... he knows blue, grey, orange, green, black, purple but for some reason he seems to have trouble with red & yellow.

[confustication]

I'll be the odd one out- while I use colors as I describe and narrate, my son has not got any interest in them yet. He is 27 months old. These are things we use in day to day life, but I don't actively teach anything to a child that young. If they don't have them by about age 3- 3.5, I will actively work towards helping them to master those skills.

[T-man's Mama]

My son is 19 months old, and while I don't think he can yet identify any shapes or colors on a regular basis, we still discuss these everyday.

I have a felt board (flannel board) and one way we use it is to explore shapes. I cut shapes (circles, triangles, squares, hearts, stars, rectangles, crescents, ect.) out of various colors of felt. Every day we have "color/shape time" with the board: I hand him different pieces to add to the board, pointing out its characteristics as I do so. He treats these pieces reverently, and gets a real kick out of placing his own designs on the board.

[Honey693]

DD picked up a few colors and shapes at 23 months and at 24 months she knows all her colors. She wasn't interested in them at all until 23 months and then picked them up pretty fast.

[JordanKX]

I just use words in narrative speak. Of course DS is only 13 months. So he's no where close. But he loves his shape sorter and will get quite frustrated trying to make the star fit in the star. And he'll get it! He doesn't know it's a Star, or Red. But he will twist and cavort that little shape til it fits.

So, I'm hoping it'll just come with time.

Our god-son is just over 4yo and doesn't know shapes or colors. He knows "Fire" for the color of red and that's it. And I think he's a little behind...but he's also in school. He'll come around.

I try not to stress, but at the same time, repetitive over and over again.

[Ruthie's momma]

You can start teaching him whenever you would like. He will pick on those concepts in due time.

DD has always really liked reading books that incorporate a discussion of colors, shapes and numbers. Plus, we make a point to casually talk about those concepts throughout the day.

[MamaPhD]

We started to do shapes and colors when DD started showing interest in coloring and drawing around 18 months. I mostly describe & talk to myself about colors and shapes, rather than "teach" DD. For example, "you can have that blue crayon, mommy will try this red one". In the past few months DD has picked up lots of colors and shapes this way and loves pointing them out to me.

[pregnant@40]

Hard to remember now, but I think my son was around 2. We went over them w/ his toys in the bathtub, and he was captivated. It's never too early, for who knows what they pick up.

[Rlin]

when your child is interested. Mine for some weird reason was obsessed with letters around 18 months and learned himself the abc (phonetic, capitals and low case). And then he lost interest. He just picked it up again now (27 months) because his friend (6 years old) can read, and he wants to do it too. He knew his colors around 15 months, also just by us pointing out colours of items to him. I never sat down with him to teach him anything. He asks, we answer..

[YayJennie]

We just point out shapes and colors as descriptive terms in everyday speech. I think that's the best way to "teach" a young toddler. I don't know how productive traditional "teaching" of shapes and colors would be at such a young age. Although I do go over colors with Wyatt when he's on the potty. More as a distraction so he'll stay on the potty than anything, but it does seem like a good use of time!