True Colors

I have worked with Avery and Ella on identifying their colors since they where babies. We have read and continue to re-read countless books on colors, done puzzles, I even went out and bought flashcards on colors, but despite my best efforts naming the color of every object we encounter throughout the day, my girls remain completely clueless on colors. I'll point to the yellow flowers on the table, and ask what color they are, to which Ella will reply "purple" and Avery will say "green." I will then say, "no the flowers are yellow, aren't the yellow flowers pretty? So what color are the flowers?" And they will often then retort in unison, "yellow." Thinking they might be getting it, I move on, pick up a lemon and ask them what color it is. Ella answers "blue", Avery "red". I was really coming to terms with the fact that maybe they are color blind when they both surprised me with this:

An amazing ability to sort by color without even hesitating. They can clearly recognize the colors and find which ones belong together, but identifying and naming is still an abstract concept for them. I hope they will get it eventually, I guess that is what preschool is for! They do enjoy sorting, and using muffin tins, have fun grouping shells, buttons, pompoms, beads, bells and other odds and ends, by shape, size, texture and yes, even by color! A nice quiet even educational activity which doesn't involve too much clean-up (except when the tins get dumped on the floor,which happens everytime of course)!