Colors

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I made a Brown Bear color book that I do with my kids at the start of the year during our color theme.
Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?
I see a.....
red apple looking at me (sponge paint red apple)
blue bird looking at me (blue collage)
green leaf looking at me (leaf print)
yellow star looking at me (finger-paint print on cut out star)
orange balloon looking at me (staple orange balloon onto picture of bear holding string)
purple grapes looking at me (bubble wrap print)
pink lollipop (squeeze bottle paint swirl)
black spider looking at me (scrunch black paper to glue on -draw legs)
We do one page a day and they turn out great! The kids love reading them! The cover has a picture of a bear which they color brown and brush over with dye.


I use Brown Bear, Brown Bear with my color theme. I take a color a day (I teach 4's and most of them already know their colors). We read the book over and over again. I also show the video (Scholastic) about Eric Carle which shows how he creates his art. We try to use his techniques! He uses a lot of tissue paper but we work on manilla (tried working on tissue one year and it was too frustrating). For red bird, the children place small pcs. of red tissue on a bird outline with starch. You could have them tear pcs., too, for more fine motor developing. We save the bird, but let them do more on a plain sheet so it can be open-ended. For each color animal, they repeat the process but we vary the techniques......we finger paint the blue horse (that's the same day I save a print of their hands!!!), we splatter paint, we feather paint ( the yellow duck!), we use carpet square prints, we use the handle end of the paint brush, etc. If you look carefully at Carle's work, you can get the children to brainstorm how he did it. When they are all finished and we have save the animal pictures......I make it a book and they take it home to read and read and read! We end the whole unit with a painting day where a group paints creating the colors he uses for his suns (he almost always has a sun in his work!!!), some children mix red and blue to create his purple tones, another group creates his green tones, etc. We then share all these paintings and they cut and make a collage of the Hungry Caterpillar and anything else they would like!


Red...
Red is a stop sign,
Red is a rose.
Red is an apple
And a funny clown's nose.

Four Red Cherries...
(This Old Man)
Four red cherries on the tree,
Two for you and two for me.
So-o shake that tree and watch them fall.
One, two, three, four -that is all.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Yellow Star...
Twinkle, twinkle, yellow star,
How I wonder what you are.
Let's go looking here and there,
Let's go looking everywhere.
Twinkle, twinkle, yellow star,
How I wonder where you are.

Oh, Rainbow...
(Oh, Christmas Tree)
Oh, rainbow, oh, rainbow,
How lovely are your colors.
Oh, rainbow, oh, rainbow
How lovely are your colors.
Purple, red and orange, too,
Yellow, green and blue so true.
Oh, rainbow, oh, rainbow,
How lovely are your colors.

Blue...
( Are you Sleeping?)
B-L-U-E
B-L-U-E
That spells blue!
That Spells blue!
Buttons are blue
Eyes are too
Blue, blue, blue
Blue, Blue ,Blue

Red...
( Three Blind Mice)
R-E-D
R-E-D
Red is the word.
Red is the word.
Apples & Strawberries both are red.
Tomatoes & Cherries are also red.
R-E-D
R-E-D

Red...
(Three Blind Mice)
Red, red, red.
Red, red, red.
What is red?
What is red?
Apples, cherries, and-me, oh my-
Tomatoes to bake in a pizza pie.
Red is the color, and that is why
We sing of red.


Green...
( BINGO)
There is a color we all know
Can you guess what it is?
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
Green is what that spells.
The grass and leaves outside
are green as green as they can be.
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
G-R-E-E-N
Green is what that spells!

Pink ...
( Are you sleeping?)
P-I-N-K
P-I-N-K
That spells pink.
That spells pink.
Bubble gum is pink
Pigs and piggies pink
Pink, Pink, Pink
Pink, Pink, Pink

Black ...
( Put your little foot)
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black
Hat are black
Some cats are black
Yes both of these are black
So if you really really like black
What you need to know is that
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
Spells Black!

Brown...
( The Farmer and the Dell)
B-R-O-W-N
B-R-O-W-N
B-R-O-W-N
That's how you spell brown
Big Trees are brown
Big trees are brown
B-R-O-W-N
Big trees are brown
And Acorns are brown
Yes acorns are brown
B-R-O-W-N
That's how you spell brown!

Orange...
( Ten Little Indians)
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
Orange like the fruit you like to eat.
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
Orange like Jack-O-lanterns bright
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE
O-R-A-N-G-E ORANGE

Purple...
( Turkey in the straw)
P-U-R-P-L-E
Can you guess what that spells?
P-U-R-P-L-E
Do you know what that spells?
Yes purples what that spells.
Like the grapes on the vine.
Yes purple's what it spells
Like the Kool-Aid in your glass.
P-U-R-P-L-E
Yes purple that does spell.
P-U-R-P-L-E
That is all I have to tell!

White...
(Happy Birthday)
W-H-I-T-E, W-H-I-T-E
Snowballs and popcorn
Are as white as can be!

Yellow...
(Baa, Baa Black Sheep)
Yellow Yellow is the sun
Shining down on everyone
Y-e-l-l-o-w, Y-e-l-l-o-w
Yellow, yellow is the sun
Shine on me so I can have fun.

The Rainbow Song...
(Jesus Loves Me)
Red, orange, green, and blue
Shiny yellow, purple, too.
All the colors that you know
Show up in the rainbow.


This is a great activity to do with the kids when you are learning about colors, and really anytime! It's active, it rhymes, and is fun! Just do the movement or action called for in the chant.
When I say RED put your hands on your head.
When I say BLUE put your hands on your shoe.
When I say BLACK put your hands on your back.
When I say BROWN move your hands all around.
When I say GREEN wipe your face real clean
When I say PINK just think, think, think. (tap temple with finger)
When I say PURPLE make two little circles
When I say WHITE squeeze your fingers real tight
When I say YELLOW wave to the fellow
When I say TAN throw up your hands
When I say GRAY say have a nice day
When ORANGE is found make it big and round



For an aid in teaching color and numbers I use washable markers and place a color or number on each finger of the children (different one on each) and we sing (tune of Thumbkin) Where is ______ man, corresponding to what is on the finger. This activity helps to strengthen those fingers and makes them concentrate on holding up the correct ones. They don't seem to want to wash hands afterwards so they can keep singing it.

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