The invention relates to a squarylium type chemical sensor for colorimetric identification of a copper ion and a preparation method thereof, belonging to the field of chemical analysis and testing. The squarylium type chemical sensor is provided with a symmetric 2, 3, 3-trimethyl-indole squarylium compound and is prepared by the following steps of: mixing a 2, 3, 3-trimethyl-indole ring compound and squaric acid with a molar ratio of 2:1, adding mixture into a three-necked flask, adding mixed solvent of toluene and n-butanol with a volume ratio of 1:1, performing heating, mixing and back-flowing for 2-24 hours, and separating water produced in reaction with a water separator; stopping heating, cooling to the room temperature, depressurizing and evaporating to remove part of the solvent, and filtering to obtain green solid; and repeatedly washing the obtained green solid with ethyl acetate, drying at 60 DEG C, and recrystallizing with ethanol solvent to obtain pure green crystals. When the squarylium compound is applied in identification of the copper ions, the color can change in addition to changes in the absorption spectrum, the characteristics are obvious, and detection of the copper ions can be facilitated.