Color Blind Test for Kids
A free colour vision test for children that uses shapes instead of numbers. Sit with your child, let them point or say the shape, and tap their answer.
- 8 plates
- About 1 minute
- Ages 4 and up
Before you start
- Turn screen brightness up and switch off night mode or blue-light filters.
- Sit with your child in a bright room, at a normal viewing distance.
- Let your child point or say the shape; you tap the answer.
When can a child take a colour blind test?
Most children can name or point to simple shapes from about age 4. Number plates work from about age 6, when children read digits confidently. Colour vision is usually checked at school or during an eye examination, but many families only notice when a child mixes up colours.
How to give the test to your child
- Use a tablet or computer in a bright room, with night mode and blue-light filters off.
- Show the first plate and ask: "What shape can you see?" Let your child point or say it.
- Tap the shape they name. If they see nothing, tap "I can't see a shape". Don't guess for them.
- Keep it short and playful; stop and try later if they lose interest.
Signs of colour blindness in children
- Using the wrong colours in drawings, such as brown grass or green faces, past age 5.
- Trouble with colour-coded worksheets, maps or games.
- Calling red and green things, or pink and grey things, by the same name.
- Saying a red pen on a dark board is hard to see.
Why the test uses shapes
Young children may know their shapes long before they read numbers. Each plate hides a circle, square, triangle or star, made with the same colour method as our main test: the shape and the background differ only in hues that red-green colour-deficient vision confuses.
If your child's result suggests colour blindness
Book an eye examination with an optometrist or paediatric eye doctor to confirm it. Then tell the school: teachers can label colours, avoid red-on-green materials and choose printouts with clear contrast. Red-green colour blindness doesn't get worse, and most children adapt well once adults know.
Questions from parents
At what age can you test a child for colour blindness?
Shape and path tests work from about age 4, number plates from about age 6. An eye doctor can test younger children with special picture tests.
Can girls be colour blind?
Yes, but less often. About 1 in 200 girls has red-green colour blindness, compared with about 1 in 12 boys of Northern European ancestry, because the genes are on the X chromosome.
Will my child grow out of colour blindness?
No. Inherited colour blindness is lifelong but stable: it doesn't get worse. Children learn to use brightness, position and labels instead.
Is this test accurate for children?
It picks up moderate and strong red-green colour blindness. It's a screening at home; only an eye examination can confirm a result.
Older child or adult? Try the number test.
Take the colour blind test