Colours I know
Matches colours, names them and spots the odd one out — a drawn game with no reading, for the child before school.
What it measures
Describes three things the child does with colours today: whether they match a colour without naming it, whether they know its name when asked, and whether their eye catches the odd one among matching things. This is the first thing that sorting and classifying in Year 1 is built on.
How to read the result
Read the three dimensions together, not one of them. Matching works on similarity alone; naming needs someone to have named the colours to them before — so a high first and a low second means a home that did not name the colours, not a child who cannot see them. That is put right in a fortnight.
Before administering
Sit beside them, not opposite, read the question aloud, and let them press with their finger. Do not correct, do not point, do not say "right" or "wrong". If they get bored, stop at once and finish another day — four minutes with a child who is enjoying it is truer than twelve with a child who is fed up. And if this is the first time they have held a device, let them try pressing something else before you begin.
Its limits
⚠️ Read this before the result: about 8% of boys see red and green as alike, and most are not found before school. So if "knows the colour name" comes out low while "matches the colour" is high, the first possibility is a difference in colour vision, not a weakness in learning — and the right step is an eye test, not a tutoring plan. This instrument is not a medical test, it diagnoses nothing, it is not standardised and has no norms, and four items in a dimension are enough for a general description and not enough for a decision. And the gap between a four-year-old and a five-year-old is wider than you think: read the result together with their age in months.
Its dimensions
- Matches the colourWhen high: Sees when colours are alike and picks the matching one with confidence, even when the shape differs.
- Knows the colour nameWhen high: Links the name of the colour to its colour when asked.
- Spots the odd one outWhen high: Picks out the thing that is different among things that are alike, quickly.