Heard your baby can only see in black and white? Surprisingly, they can actually see some colour from the moment they鈥檙e born, although it鈥檚 a little while before they can see the full 鈥榬ainbow鈥 and be able to use words like 鈥榬ed鈥 and 鈥榶ellow鈥 in a sentence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a common myth that babies can only see black and white at birth鈥, says Dr Alice Skelton from the University of Sussex鈥檚 School of Psychology. 鈥淚f at birth you show a baby a very bright red and white light, they鈥檒l look for longer at the red light than the white. So we know they can tell those two colours apart.鈥
Alice is an expert in how and when babies see and learn about colours. She adds, 鈥淔or babies, it鈥檚 a bit like the saturation dial has been turned down on the world. Colours need to be very intense for them to see them at first.鈥
What colours can babies see and when?
To see the world through your baby鈥檚 eyes, Alice suggests imagining you鈥檝e put a photo almost entirely into monochrome and you鈥檙e able to dial just a little bit of the colour back in. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 like for babies.鈥
The reason for this is the special cells in our eyes that help us see the world in colour, which are known as cones, aren鈥檛 fully developed at birth. 鈥淥nce these colour cells have developed to be more like adults', usually around two months, they鈥檒l see an improvement in the colours they can see鈥, adds Alice.
It鈥檚 a quick process. 鈥淗ow well they can see colour gets twice as good for every doubling of age鈥, she explains. This means when your baby is six months old, they鈥檒l see colour twice as well as when they were three months old. 鈥淭his keeps going until they鈥檙e about 17 or 18 years old. That鈥檚 the age your colour vision is the best it鈥檚 going to be, and then it starts getting worse again.鈥
Here鈥檚 a basic colour timeline:
| Approximate age | Ability with colour |
|---|---|
| One week | Can see very intense red or green colours |
| Two months | Can see blue-ish colours and tell red and green colours apart |
| Three months | Can see yellow-ish colours and tell yellow and blue colours apart |
| Six months | Can know what colour an object should be, for example, that a strawberry is red |
| One year | Can see more washed-out colours, not just bright ones |
Do babies have a favourite colour?
Not really, but they do like high contrasting colours, says Alice. So look for picture books and toys that are colourful, not just black and white. 鈥淏abies would prefer to look at something colourful than something black and white. They鈥檙e driven to seek out colour. It鈥檚 a bit of information about the world that鈥檚 useful to them.鈥
When can babies see pastel colours?
Not for a while. 鈥淭hese colours are probably quite greyish to babies鈥, says Alice. This means pastel-coloured toys will all look similar to babies, no matter which colour they are. 鈥淭hey need colours to be intense to see them.鈥
When do children learn colour words?
This usually comes when your child is between 2-3 years old, although it could be a bit earlier or later. Speech and language therapist Claire Smith says, 鈥淟earning colour words is part of language development, but don鈥檛 sweat it if your child isn鈥檛 picking them up yet. The language building blocks are naming words (nouns) and action words (verbs). When they鈥檝e grasped these, your child will move on to describing words (adjectives).鈥 Only when they鈥檙e ready can they move onto conceptual words for sizes, shapes and colours.
Why is learning colour words hard?
鈥淥ne of the possible reasons children struggle learning colour words is to do with the idea of where the boundary is between different colour groups. Where is the point that blue becomes green, or the point that red becomes pink?鈥, says Alice.
Another issue is that there are a lot of different shades of each colour, says Claire. And this can make it hard for children to learn colour words. 鈥淵ou might say to your child, 鈥榯he sun is yellow鈥, 鈥榯hat flower is yellow鈥 and 鈥榯hese socks are yellow鈥. But they鈥檒l all be different.鈥
What about colour-blindness?
Colour-blindness (also known as colour vision deficiency) is very rare, affecting around 8% of boys and less than 0.5% of girls. Colour-blind children find it hard to tell the difference between colours. For example, your child might not be able to see a red ball on the green grass.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no point worrying when children are still learning colour words鈥, says Alice. 鈥淲e know they find them difficult to learn and they might make mistakes. If they are still consistently mixing up colours when they are 3, especially red and green, talk to your health visitor or optician.鈥
How to teach your child colour words
Claire has these top tips:
1. Focus on one colour at a time
Work on understanding one colour first. Say to your child, 鈥淟et鈥檚 find lots of blue things today. You鈥檝e found a ball that鈥檚 blue. Look, the slide is blue鈥, and so on. When you鈥檙e confident they鈥檝e understood 鈥榖lue鈥, move on to a contrasting colour like yellow and do the same thing. This helps your child learn that colours are labels that describe things.
2. Think how you鈥檙e using colour words
A common mistake parents make is to point to something 鈥 a teddy for example 鈥 and say, 鈥榬ed鈥 or 鈥榣ook, it鈥檚 red鈥. It鈥檚 not just red, it鈥檚 a teddy that鈥檚 red. The colour name is secondary to what the thing actually is. So try saying, 鈥楾he teddy is red鈥 instead.
3. Use colours every day
Make colour words part of your everyday language and give your child choices. 鈥楧o you want red socks or blue socks?鈥. The best way to help children to learn language is to use what children are interested in at that time.
4. Don鈥檛 just focus on colours
It鈥檚 best to focus on what the thing is rather than its colour. If a car goes past, you can say, 鈥榓 red car鈥, but use lots of other describing words too, for example, 鈥業t鈥檚 a fast car鈥 or 鈥業t鈥檚 a noisy car鈥. This helps develop your child鈥檚 vocabulary in a massive way. From a language point of view, colours are often less important than other describing words. So don鈥檛 get too bogged down if they don鈥檛 learn them quickly.
