Materials
Magazines Scissors (if skill level permits)Glue or gluesticks Cardboard figures of various objects
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill
Instructions
1. You can use this activity to introduce colors. The teacher makes large figures beforehand, one figure for each color. Examples: apple — red, sheep — white, car — blue, pumpkin — orange, sun — yellow, ballet slipper — pink, tree — green, grapes — purple, bear — brown, top hat — black2. Introduce a color by reading the poem about the color from Hailstones and Halibut Bones.
3. Encourage children to find items in the color discussed, for example, clothes, toys other objects in the classroom.
4. Give the children magazines and tell them to locate items in the magazine of the color discussed. If the children are able to cut, have them cut out the objects. If not, they can tear items or the teacher can cut them. The teacher may have to trim pictures to show a certain color.
5. Ask the children to glue the cut pieces onto your teacher-made shape until the entire shape is filled with the color. Repeat with the rest of the shapes.
6. Laminate and display the shapes in your classroom. You can make these figures each year to introduce colors, instead of purchasing the commercial color figure sets.More to doLanguage: Ask the children to dictate a sentence about the items they found and have the sentences follow a pattern. For example, Tommy found a red block. Eric found a red shirt. Write the sentences on chart story paper and distribute one to each child. Encourage the children to find their word on the chart story. Try to concentrate on the color words and children's names. * As a cumulative activity after all the colors have been introduced, make a book for the classroom libraryentitled Our Favorite Colors. The children can dictate a sentence using a pattern. For example, Mary said, "My favorite color is blue. The sky is blue, my shirt is blue and my lunch box is blue." The pattern should have the name of the child, name of the favorite color and a list of three things that are that color. The children can illustrate their sentences. Bind pages together and put into a book for your classroom library.Math: Give the children items that are of varying colors, for example, buttons. Have them sort the items by color. The children can use unifix cubes and make a color pattern.
