I need a lunch box by Jeannette Caines; pictures by Pat Cummings. 
New York: Harper & Row, c1988. 
A little boy yearns for a lunch box, even though he hasn't started school yet.

Planting a rainbow written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. 
San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1988. 
A mother and child plant a rainbow of flowers in the family garden. 

Lunch by Denise Fleming. 
New York: Henry Holt and Co., c1992. 
A very hungry mouse eats a large lunch comprised of colorful foods.

A rainbow of my own by Don Freeman. 
New York, Viking Press 1966 
A small boy imagines what it would be like to have his own rainbow to play with.

My crayons talk by Patricia Hubbard; illustrations by G. Brian Karas. 
New York: H. Holt, 1996. 
Brown crayon sings "Play, Mud pie day," and Blue crayon calls "Sky, Swing so high" in this story about talking crayons.

Little blue and little yellow : a story for Pippo and Ann and other children by Leo Lionni. 
New York : I. Obolensky, c1959. 
Little Blue and Little Yellow get all mixed up and become Little Green, so their parents do not recognize them, until they manage to get separated into their original colors. Give children small pieces of yellow and blue celophane to act out this story while you read it.

The great blueness and other predicaments by Arnold Lobel. 
New York: Harper & Row, 1968. 
When a wizard discovered that each color he invented for the colorless world had a different emotional effect on people, he luckily had an accident which resulted in red apples, green leaves, and yellow bananas.

Chuck Murphy's color surprises: a pop-up book.
New York : Little Simon, c1997. 
"Can you guess what's hiding behind each color? Lift the flaps and watch colors literally explode off the pages in this eye-popping book."

Colors; a book, by John J. Reiss. 
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Bradbury Press [1969] 
Eight colors are represented in illustrations of animals, foods, insects, and flowers.

Mouse paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. 
San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1989. 
Three white mice discover jars of red, blue, and yellow paint and explore the world of color. 

FINGER PAINTING FUN

Today I'm finger painting.
I make an apple tree.
I make the earth.
I make a star,
A giant bumblebee.
I splash the blue.
I glop the green.
I stir the red and white.
I made a rainbow in the sky,
A dragon, and a kite.
My fingers swish and swirl about;
Here's yellow for the sun.
Today I am an artist
Having finger painting fun!
  ~Rebecca Dai Dotlich~

Carl the Clown
by Susan M. Paprocki


My name, boys and girls, is Carl the Clown.
I wear my hats all over town.

Each one has its own color name,
Which you can learn if you play my game.

Oh, here's a hat, and it is red.
It fits so nicely on my head.

Now when I wear my hat of yellow,
I'm told I'm quite a dandy fellow.

I hope you like my hat of blue.
I'll put it on now, just for you.

My purple hat is just for good.
I'd wear it always if I could

I wear a white hat on a sunny day
It looks quite nice, my friends all say.

I put on my green hat to visit the park,
But I take it off when it gets dark.

And when it's dark, I put on brown.
This hat is for a sleepy clown.

Orange and black is for Halloween night.
Yes, indeed, I'm quite a sight! 


Preparation: Cut a clown face out of white felt and use felt scraps or felt-tip markers to make hair and facial features. Then cut one clown hat shae each from the following colors of felt: red, yellow, blue, purple, white, green brown. Cut an additional hat shape out of orange felt and add black decorations.

Activity: Place the clown face on the flannelboard. As you recite the poem, put the appropriate colored hats on the clown's head. when the children have become familiar with the poem, let them take turns placing the hats on the clown's head themselves.

Color Balloons
by Jean Warren

I had a great big red balloon,
Until I let it go.
Now where, oh where, I wonder,
Did my balloon blow?

I had a great big blue balloon,
The string I held so tight.
But when I opened up my hand,
My balloon flew out of sight.

I had a great big green balloon,
As pretty as could be
But when I let go of its string,
It flew away from me.

I had a great big yellow balloon,
When I went out to play.
But when I wasn't watching,
My balloon just flew away.

Red balloon, red balloon,
Where can you be?
Red balloon, red balloon,
Up in a tree.

Blue balloon, blue balloon,
Where did you fly?
Blue balloon, blue balloon,
Up in the sky.

Green balloon, green balloon,
where can you be?
Green balloon, green balloon,
Under the tree.

Yellow balloon, yellow balloon,
Where did you fly?
Yellow balloon, yellow balloon,
High in the sky. 


Preparation: Cut four balloon shapes out of felt, one each from red, blue, green and yellow. Then use felt to make an outdoor scene on the flannelboard: a blue sky background, a yellow sun in the sky, a tree with several large red apple shapes on it and a strip of tall green grass under the tree. (Make the sun, apple and grass shapes a little bit larger than the balloon shapes.

Activity: As you recite each of the first four verses of the poem, hold up the appropriate colored balloon. When you come to the last line of each verse, "fly" the balloon to the flannelboard and place it on a matching color. As you recite the last four verses of the poem, let the children take turns finding the "hidden" balloons and removing them from the flannelboard.

SAFETY

IF YOU'RE WEARING RED TODAY
  tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

If you are wearing red today
Red today, red today,
If you are wearing red today
Please stand up!

substitute all the colors you see in the audience, then sing the song the song again, with the following verse:

If you are wearing red today
Red today, red today,
If you are wearing red today
Please sit back down!



COLOR RHYME
by Jean Warren

If your clothes have any red
Put your finger on your head

If your clothes have any blue
Put your finger on your shoe.

If your clothes have any green
Wave your hand so you'll be seen

If your clothes have any yellow,
Smile like a happy fellow

If your clothes have any yellow,
Smile like a happy fellow.

If your clothes have any brown,
Turn your smile into a frown.

If your clothes have any black,
Put your hands behind your back.

If your clothes have any white,
Clap your hands with all your might. 

Suit actions to the words.



RAINBOW COLORS
  to the tune of Hush, Little Baby

Rainbow purple, rainbow blue
Rainbow green and yellow, too
Rainbow orange, rainbow red
Rainbow smiling overhead.
Come and count the colors with me
How many colors can you see?
One, two, three, down to green,
Four, five, six can be seen
Rainbow purple, rainbow blue,
Rainbow green and yellow, too.
Rainbow orange, rainbow red,
Rainbow smiling overhead.

GLITTER SPARKLE BOTTLES

Remove the label from a clean, clear 16oz. plastic soda bottle. Pour at least 1/2 cup of light corn syrup into the bottle. Then add a few drops of food coloring and some glitter and/or confetti. Hot glue the lid onto the bottle. Have the children swirl and shake the bottle and watch it's movement. Use a certain color or a rainbow of colors!



RAINBOW PAINTING

Cover work surfaces with several layers of old newsprint, or other disposable table covering. For each child take a large square of plain white tissue paper (16-20 inches square), and fold it until in half until it is about three or four layers thick and small enough to fit into a zip-lock sandwich bag. Set out small containers of water with strong red, yellow and blue food-color tinting in them. Put a couple eyedroppers into each container. Let the children drop the colored water onto their small squares of tissue. Show them how to blend the colors by dropping different colors next to each other. Carefully unfold the tissue to show them the pretty patterns they have made. Refold, and place in sandwich bag for transportation home, if there isn't enough time to let the paper dry. Instruct parents to remove paper from the bag and air-dry the paper.