Exploring All the Colors of the Rainbow with Books, Activities, & Music

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This week is all about the colors of the rainbow! Colors are everywhere. When I was planning for this week, I didn’t want to make it too complicated. We are going to do many of our routine activities for the week with the goal in mind to be purposeful when talking about colors. For example, we are adding on to a bank of two-word combinations

Black-Cat

Yellow-Banana

Orange-Hat

The goal is to be more mindful in the hustle and bustle of the day to talk about colors, label colors as we see them, and try to work in some silly games that we may not have had in the plans originally. Our little one knows her colors already, but I am learning that language is all about confidence when it comes to speaking. I want to build her assurance when it comes to speaking, and also add on to the knowledge that she already has been working on so far. This post includes book recommendations, day-to-day activities for the morning, and some links to music from YouTube to get you and your little one moving.

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Books for Storytime

We read in the morning, around naptime, and at bedtime. I want to make sure that books that surround this week’s theme are in the rotation. Here are some that I love:

• First 100 Padded: Numbers, Colors, Shapes by Roger Priddy

• Melissa & Doug Children’s Book – Poke-a-Dot: First Colors (Board Book with Buttons to Pop)

• Melissa & Doug Children's Book - Poke-a-Dot: What’s Your Favorite Color (Board Book with Buttons to Pop)

• Paper Peek: Colors by Chihiro Takeuchi

• Colors with Ladybug (Learn with a Ladybug) by DK

• These Colors Are Bananas: Published in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford

• One Sky by Aaron Becker

• You Are Light by Aaron Becker

• Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey and Loveis Wise

• The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Supriya Kelkar, Alea Marley, and Simran Jeet Singh

• Are Your Stars Like My Stars? by Leslie Helakoski and Heidi Woodward Sheffield

Our favorites that stay in the rotation are the Priddy board books and the Ladybug books. Any books can become books about colors, but these are the ones that are our favorites.

• First 100 : First Book of Colors Padded by Roger Priddy

• Crayola ® Art of Color (Crayola ® Colorology ™) by Mari Schuh

• My First COLORS Padded Board Book by Simon Abbott

Activities for the Week

Monday

• Letters B- Make poster, watch video, practice words, and hang up the poster

• Toddler-Led Coloring- Explore colors by working on some Mess Free! coloring books. Talk about colors and work on two-word combinations like red-marker and blue-picture

• Color Storytime- Grab the stack of books from above and dive in!

Tuesday

• Letter C-Make poster, watch video, practice words, and hang up the poster

• Sensory Table- Place the sensory bin or table in the sink, and add some colors! We like to add animal figurines, different colors of spoons, and pop-its.

• Color Sorting-Get organized by helping to put different colors in different cups. We take our big bag of markers and sort them out.

Wednesday

• Letter D- Make poster, watch video, practice words, and hang up the poster

• Play Red Light, Green Light- Get moving with red light green light. This is also reinforcing the ideas of stop and go.

• Sidewalk Chalk-Label colors on the ground with different chalk!

Thursday

• Letter E- Make poster, watch video, practice words, and hang up the poster

• Draw Like Alma Thomas Activity-Using the book, Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey and Loveis Wise, we are going to use the Mess Free Fingerpaint Kit to draw like Alma. After looking at some of her paintings, we can get started right away!

• Rainbow Mommy and Me Yoga

Example Alma Thomas Paintings

Colors Songs on YouTube

Writing Mindset Reflection: What activities do you like to do with your little one to talk about colors?