Blue is the Lake

Blue is the lake
Hold arms out in a circle in front of you
Yellow is the sun
Move arms, still in circle, overhead
Silver are the stars when the day is done
Wiggle fingers overhead
Red is the apple
Make a round ball with your fingers in front of you
Green is the tree
Hold arms up like branches
Brown is a cookie for you and me
Rub tummy!

-From the blog Mel's desk

STORYTIME: Shape Up!

Books:
Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier - Bright colors and a good introduction to the circle shape. It can be found anywhere from the buttons on your shirt to the stars in the sky. Have the kids find as many dots in the room as they can after you read the book.

Press Here by Herve Tullet- Clever and fun read aloud. The audience helps you by pressing, blowing, on and shaking the book to create a fun interactive journey filled with colorful dots.

Perfect Square by Michael Hall- Think "Press Here." A square gets torn up into all sorts of shapes that are turned into flowers, parks, and oceans. A very creative book that can show kids how a square can be broken down and turned into anything...with a little imagination. A great craft activity to accompany is right from the book. Give each child a square of tissue paper, have them rip it up into 6-8 pieces. Glue those pieces onto a piece of paper. Give them crayons and let them draw flower stems and leaves to make the bits of tissue paper the flowers.

Shape by Shape by Suse Macdonald- Can also be used in a shape themed storytime. By using cutouts and naming the different shapes we finally get to find out what the animal featured in this book is by the last page.

Green Says Go

Green says, "Go" (march in place quickly)
Go! Go! Go!
Yellow says, "Slow!" (march slowly)
Slow...slow....slow
And red says "stop!" (stop suddenly)
Go!Go!Go! (move fast)
Slow...slow....slow (move slowly)
and STOP! (stop)

Repeat and allow children to pretend they are cars driving down the street

STORYTIME: Colors

Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle- This book is based on the art of Franz Marc who is known for his stylized form and vivid colors. Like with and Eric Carle book you can do an inventive painting and collage art project afterward based on his style of illustration.

A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt
Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert
Brown at the Zoo by Christianne Jones
The Red Lemon by Bob Staak

I Dream of An Elephant by Ami Rubinger - I dream of an elephant who's color is.................. This is the question asked throughout the book and the kids can shout out the color if they know eat. Each spread is a composition made mostly of the color in question. Goes through all the colors of the rainbow.

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin- A great story about colors and going with the flow. There is a great 3 line refrain the cat sings and the kids can sing along. A must read book.

Color Dance by Ann Jonas- A clever look at how mixing colors can create whole new colors. The kids in the book use sheer colored dance scarves to illustrate. Introduces kids to whole new colors like Magents. After reading the book give kids colored squares of tissue paper, or colored celephane to overlap to make new colors. Let the kids take the squares home with them.

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri - Such a great book. Fun to look at and read. Bored farm animals (why is it always farm animals?) decide to fill in their white washed world with all the colors of the rainbow.

Black Meets White by Justine Fontes - Modern, bold illustrations adorn this book with some clever cut outs and pull tab interactions. Kids love books like this. Though the story is short and perhaps a little abstract it is still very fun to look at.

Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd - A dog wanders through town picking up all sorts of splotches of color along the way. Funny and a great review of colors and counting til ten.

Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood- An owl wakes up in the daytime and sees all the colors of the world. Story is nothing special but the illustrations are wonderful.

Fingerplays & Activities:
Green Says Go Activity