I love colors and there are so many fun books that I could do ten storytimes on this theme! I chose ones I thought my current regulars would like for this first one on this theme.
Books we Read
Not all Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen
Pete the Cat: Crayons Rock! by Kimberly and James Dean
The Crayons’ Book of Numbers by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers
Mix it Up! by Hervé Tullet
Songs we Sang
Rainbow Song
Oh I like red, it’s the color of an apple
Orange, it’s the color of the orange
Yellow, it’s a lemon and our wonderful sun, sun, sun
Green, it’s the color of the trees and lots of things that grow
And then there’s blue for the sky
And purple is a color that’s fun, fun, fun
When we put those colors side by side,
Oh, what do you think we’ve done?
We’ve made a rainbow and it’s a really beautiful one.
Credit: Barney
Mix a Color
When you mix red and yellow, it makes orange
When you mix red and yellow, it makes orange
When you mix these two, you see a new color magically
When you mix red and yellow, it makes orange
When you mix blue and yellow, it makes green
When you mix blue and yellow, it makes green
When you mix these two, you see a new color magically
When you mix blue and yellow, it makes green
When you mix blue and red, it makes purple
When you mix blue and rеd, it makes purple
When you mix thеse two, you see a new color magically
When you mix blue and red, it makes purple
Credit: Barney
It’s a Green Light
I played this on the Bluetooth speaker and let the kids run around the room when the light was green, walk when the light was yellow, and freeze when the light was red.
Credit: Oh my heaven! Look it’s Evan.
Popcorn Kernels (with scarves – to the tune of Frère Jacques)
Popcorn kernel, popcorn kernel
In a pot, in a pot
Shake them, shake them, shake them
Shake them, shake them, shake them
In a pot, in a pot.
Credit: Jbrary
Early Literacy Tip
Talking about colors or playing “I spy with my little eye” is a great way to build vocabularies!
Flannel Board
I used the crayons as we read Crayons Book of Numbers and they had to name the color before I put the crayon up. If there were fewer than 10 kids, I handed out the crayons before we read the book and they brought them up.
They loved it!
Craft
Since we read books about crayons and did a flannel board with crayons, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to color with crayons! I brought out white paper and a bunch of crayons and let them draw anything. When I tell you this was the most exciting craft ever, I am not exaggerating. The parents told me they had crayons at home but they were much more exciting as a storytime craft.
How it Went
This storytime was so much fun. We put the scarves in the middle of the floor and when we sang the rainbow song, the kids would find the different colors and dance with them. The books were really fun and I can think of a bunch more I would want to read that I eventually will. The songs were a huge hit and Mr. Evan is super fun and the kids here love him!
Next time I want to bring out the parachute, but there was too much craziness with this storytime already for that. I think either scarves OR parachute will be my next storytimes.
Have you done this theme? What books and songs do you like?