Colors! - A Storytime Outline

The night of this storytime was, well, dark, but it had been a dark gray day to begin with. It was so old, rainy that the program was rather small, but that was OK. We still had fun!

BOOKS
Mouse Paint written and illus. by Ellen Stoll Walsh 
This was book was just about right in level for the group we had. I made sure to ask the children to guess/announce what color would be made when the mice danced and stirred and mixed the paint puddles together. One boy didn't know that you could make the color green by mixing blue and yellow together! I also use the library's big book version cause the other book is so small!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! written by Karen Beaumont and illus. by David Catrow
You have to read this in rhythm, and for the older kids, you have to ask them what body part rhymes with the words before.

Press Here written and illus. by Herve Tullet 
I love this book, and this was the second time that I used it in a storytime. To make this more interactive I gave each child an activity page that had four dots (it really should be five) that they had to press instead of having them individually press the dot in the book. The children totally got into it!

A Color of His Own written and illus. by Leo Lionni 
This was a good book to end the program with because it was so simple and it has a happy ending.

SONGS & RHYMES 
Open, Shut Them
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Color Game 
Take red, put it on your head.
Take blue, put it on your shoe.
Take black, put on your back.
Take yellow, put it on your elbow.
Take white, put it on your right.
Take brown, put it all around.
Take the color of a rose, put it on your nose.
Take the color of snow, put it on your toe.
Take the color of sand, put it on your hand.
Take the color of cheese, put it on your knees.
Take the color of jelly, put it on your belly.
Take the color of bubblegum, put it on your thumb.
Take the color of your skin, put it on your chin.
Take the color of hair, wave it in the air.
Note: See below for details of I mixed this up a bit.
Source: by Jim Gill via Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime

ACTIVITIES 
Color Game 
Since I could not sing the song very well, I decided to just make it into a rhyme. Each child got a little packet of colored squares. They would find the right color and follow the actions. When it came to have them pick the color of a rose, cheese, bubblegum and the likes I let them pick whatever color they think matches. It was great to see them think an decide on their color choices! They were all different! This was such a good activity that I would like to laminate the squares and maybe loop them on a ring so that they could be used more often.

Press Here 
As I mentioned above the each child had an activity sheet to use during the reading of Press Here. To create this I simply used Microsoft Publisher. I had four dots on the page, two yellows (one on the right and one on the left), one red, and one blue. I really should consider adding a white dot (a black outlined circle) to the sheet, but so far I have lucked out and have been able to get the children to press the white dot in the book - one by one. The children did a great job participating the pressing, tilting, and shaking of the their activity as it corresponded with what I had to do with the book. One boy was in complete awe at every change that would happen. I loved his reactions!

Family Storytime, Press Here activity sheet,
created by Dorothy, WPCC 2014.

CRAFT
Mouse Paint Pattern Coloring Sheet 
I discovered the coloring sheets online at First Grade a la Carte. Following the prompted patterns were a little hard (I messed up two times while prepping my example!) and time consuming, but the children did a good job at trying! They at least understood the concept of AB, AAB, ABB, and etc. patterns!

Family Storytime, Mouse Paint coloring sheet,
colored by Dorothy, WPCC 2014. 

MORE BOOKS 
little blue and little yellow written and illus. by Leo Lionni
Lemons Are Not Red written and illus. by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Monsters Love Colors written and illus. by Mike Austin
A Rainbow of My Own written and illus. by Don Freeman
Mix It Up! written and illus. by Herve Tullet