Four children dance across the pages of this book to mix and make colors.  This is a great book to use to reinforce how primary colors make secondary colors.

Materials

•   Examples of colors in pairs (paint or material swatches, paper)
•   Clear glasses or jars of water
•   Food coloring
•   Several rolls of crepe paper
•   2-dice.  On one, tape six different basic colors to each of the 6 sides.
•  Color mixing chart.
•  Make several ice cube trays filled with colored ice the night before (color ice with food coloring or non-toxic water soluble paint)

Vocabulary

• Disappear (to look like it is not even there)

Before Reading the Story

 Make a simple graph to show the children’s favorite colors.  After everyone has given his or her input, look at the graph together.  Which color has the most votes?  Which color has the least?  Is there any color that did not get a vote?  

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such ass more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to.

Reading the Story

As you begin to say some of the unusual color names that the dancers make, look at the children’s clothing to see if any of them are wearing the named color. (Look, Kerry is wearing magenta on her shirt. Roger has an aquamarine blue stripe right here). 

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can remember what color red and blue make?  Follow the directions on the back of the food coloring box and mix a variety of colors in the glasses or jars so the children can watch the colors mix together.  

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Discovery

Do your science on the art table today.  Put several blobs of red, yellow, and blue finger paint directly onto the table.  Add some soothing music and have the children use their hands to slide/dance across and around the table with their hands.  As the colors mix, make note,“how did you do that?  What colors did you mix here to make that orange?”

 Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

 Give the children scarves and play some cheerful music. Let them experiment with throwing the scarves up in the air and catching them, swirl around, make circles over head, in front of, etc.   As the children move to the music use movement words such as swish, swing, choppy, zigzag, smoothly, up and down.

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.  AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

Sing the Rainbow Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRTdq0VsLGQ Have a piece of construction paper to represent each color and let the children hold them up when their color is called.

Red and yellow and pink and green

Purple and orange and blue

I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, you can sing a rainbow too.

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety  of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Blocks

If you have any colored blocks, put them out as the feature building block for the day.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Art

 Put out red, yellow, blue, and white paint in small cans or jars (I use old Gatorade bottles).  Show the children how to pour paint into small cups and make their own colors for the easel.  This takes practice.  Encourage each child to wash out their cups and brushes when they are finished.  Add a color-mixing chart (red + blue = purple) 

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.  AND Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Library and Writing

Cut out squares and rectangles from colored construction paper.  Write the name of the color on the shape.  Put the shapes out on the table along with corresponding markers.  Have the children find a colored shape and marker that are the same (i.e. blue) and show them the word on the shape and marker. Encourage the children to write the color names with the correct color marker.  

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers.  AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Sand and Water

Add a small amount of water to the table and let the children experiment by adding colored ice cubes.  You can talk about how the colors melt and change the water color as well as how the ice makes the water cold to the touch. 

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Dramatic Play

Put the scarves into the dramatic center and let the children use them to make articles of clothing or to continue their color dancing. 

Creative Arts/Dramatic PLay; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

Bring in pairs of color swatches (paint swatches, materials, paper, etc) for the children to match up.  For older children use swatches that are similar in color.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoor Play

Take several rolls of crepe paper outside and let the children weave lengths in and out of the fence.  Or just run around with a crepe paper ribbon.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Transitions

Bring two dice to the carpet.  Leave one untouched and on the other one, tape on six small paper dots in six different basic colors.  The children take turns rolling the two dice.  The one dice tells them what color item they must search for in the room and the other tells them how many of that color item they must find. For example if a child was to roll a 3 and a red the child must find 3 red items and bring them back to the carpet. 

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.  AND Language Development/Listening  Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.

Dear Parent,   Today we read a book about many colors.  Help your child be able to identify his or her basic color names. When he/she is proficient at these, introduce some of the more exotic color names such as chartreuse, maroon, violet, magenta, or copper.

Resources