Books: Mixing Colors

I had a stumper question today from a kindergarten teacher. She needed stories that showed mixing colors. At first, I couldn't think of any. Then, I started thinking about all my favorite color books and came up with a few. 

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri is one of my favorite books to share with babies and toddlers. When Farmer Gray is away, Blue Goose gets into mischief with colors. 

The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown is my second favorite book from childhood, after Cinderella. They mix all the colors of the world. This one is wordy, so it would be best shared one-on-one, unless you have a mature group.

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh is the simplest book of the three. It is straight forward color mixing and would be a great introduction to the concept.

Please leave a comment with any other color mixing books. I like to be prepared for anything!

Rainbow Sticky Collage

Playing with light can be as simple as taping a piece of contact paper to the window. I set out the materials from our Rainbow Sensory Bin.

The collage took the form of a story board. Bobo created monsters and rainbow bridges. He asked to keep it up until dark, then until church and finally "forever." I love pulling into the driveway and seeing the happy rainbow collage.

Rainbow Salt

This activity developed from the color mixing tot tray. I thought it would be fun to add a thin layer of salt and spray colors on it. It was a success and Bobo added more salt for more sensory fun. We used a whole container of table salt and Epsom salt. The bottles are filled with water and food coloring.

Bobo's favorite part was spraying. He also used glitter and beads to hide. The result was sparkly colors!

Rainbow Sensory Bin

Hidden goodies lie underneath the colorful feathers and flowers of the Rainbow Sensory Bin. You can see the colorful craft sticks, penguins, bath toys and cups. The heavier items fell to the bottom: googly eyes, gems and mosaic plastic shapes. So far, the feathers have been the favorite.

A few activities that have been inspired by the bin:

1. Feather on a Stick Race: Bobo balanced a feather on a stick. I challenged him to a race to the end of the hall. Think egg on a spoon race.

2. Play dough people.

3. Tickle game with feathers.

4. Extreme Makeover Feather Edition: I don't know how he gets so many feathers to stay in his hair.

5. Dump and Pour: The animal cups were very hungry.

Flannel Friday: Colorful Caterpillar

The colorful caterpillar is made primarily of foam with hook strips on the back. The head is laminated. I inherited a wealth of flannel board materials upon embarking on my adventure as a children's librarian. Many of them have the words, but some of them do not. Since I love stories and caterpillars, I created a tale to go with this guy...

The Colorful Caterpillar by Miss Courtney

One day a caterpillar was resting in his tree. He was looking at all the beautiful flowers in the garden. He wished he had beautiful colors, too. But he was only green. He ate green leaves every day.

"How can I be many colors like the flowers?" he thought.

He had an idea. Maybe if he ate something other than green leaves, he would become different colors too.

So he crawled and creeped until he came to an orange tree. He ate a whole orange, and the next day part of his body had turned orange.

"This is great! What other foods can I eat?" he asked.

He found blueberries and turned blue. Then, he found a grapes and turned purple. Last, he found fresh strawberries and turned red.

The caterpillar was so happy. He kept eating and eating, until he was very long and very colorful. Then, he was finally as beautiful as all the flowers in the garden.

The End.

Check out the rest of this week's flannels at Notes from the Story Room.

Featured Author of the Week: Eric Carle

Eric Carle is an author, illustrator and one of my favorite storytime resources. He uses the collage method to illustrate his whimsical tales. Not only does he make art for his own books, but he also illustrates other author's books. You will recognize his art in the Brown Bear, Brown Bear series. Carle is so dedicated to his art, he opened The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in 2002. If you are ever in the Amherst, Massachusetts area, be sure to check it out.



You have probably read at least one of his Very Buggy books (as I've coined them). The Very Busy Spider, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Lonely Firefly , are there any more? These books are all wonderful for preschoolers who like repetition and predictability.

Toddlers enjoy Carle's simple texts such as: Little Cloud, Today is Monday, Draw Me a Star, Does a Kangaroo have a Mother too? and From Head to Toe. Each book has something different to offer from guessing shapes to singing to mimicking actions. The best part of these simple stories is the interaction they create between the reader and listener.

Try some Very Eric Activities:

Very Hungry Caterpillar Memory Game: Set out 1 piece of fruit for each day: Apple, Pear, Plum, Strawberry, Orange and Watermelon (just a slice will do). After reading the story, let your child line up the fruit in the order it was eaten. Count the fruit and go over colors if you'd like. Ask your child what color s/he thinks the inside of the fruit will be? Cut up the fruit for a delicious snack.

Very Busy Spider Game: Give your child a ball of white or black yarn and ask them to build a web by twining it around objects. After they are all finished, ask if they can navigate through the web like a real spider without getting caught. After the yarn has all fallen, put on a favorite song and play the freeze game like you've become a fly caught in the web.

Collage: Make a collage with tissue paper, tempera paint (it's usually washable), water and glue. You can paint white tissue paper to make collages that look like Eric Carle illustrations. There are directions on his web site. I tried this to see if we could do it in storytime. It was easy and fun, but it takes too long to dry (craft time usually lasts 10 minutes). After the painted tissue papers dry (you should make at least 5), you can cut those into shapes and paste them on a poster board or cardstock.



This is what the tissue paper looks like before you start cutting it. Very Carle!