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Have a Purple Day!
Wondering how to teach your children their colors without the boring monotony of using color squares over and over until you both would rather be color blind? In this series of articles, I will make suggestions on making colors fun and interesting for both of you! Today’s article is on the color PURPLE.
Fun and food often go hand in hand, this can be especially true when teaching colors. Foods that you could use on your “Purple Day” are:
Mashed potatoes that have add food coloring added
Grapes and/or raisins
ranch (or other) dressing (tinted with food coloring)
egg salad sandwich filling (tinted with food coloring)
popcorn (tint melted butter with purple food coloring before drizzling - then let the kids mix well)
However, a note... some children (and adults) are extra sensitive to certain food dyes. If this is the case with any of your children, or you just want to stay on the safe side, stick with the natural sources of the color yellow.
Make homemade fruit roll-ups using purple fruit or fruit puree dyed purple.
Make a purple homemade fruit sherbet. You could add food coloring to make the sherbet color more vibrant if you wish.
The Purple Coat by Amy Hest
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Arts and Crafts:
Purple Collage: Glue a purple thing collage on purple paper. Invite children to bring purple things from home to glue on to a purple collage. You'll need to have some things available too like, purple fabric scraps, purple yarn, purple buttons, purple paper, purple tissue paper, purple cotton balls, purple milk jug caps, purple confetti, purple paint chip samples from the hardware store, etc.
Shaving Cream Finger Paint:
1 medium ziploc bag
white shaving cream
Place a palm size dollop of shaving cream into the ziploc bag; add a few drops of blue and yellow food coloring. Zip up the bag, removing all the air you can before sealing. The kids can "knead" the bag to mix the colors - red and blue make purple!
Thumb Print Grapes: Draw or copy a bunch of grapes (stems only - minus the grapes!) on a piece of fingerpaint paper. Supply the kids with purple fingerpaint and let them use their thumbs to fill the page with "purple grapes"!
Make purple colored playdough
Wear purple Day: Wear as much green as possible, and get some theatrical makeup and paint everyone's face purple.
Take a purple walk and look for purple objects. They could even take a small tablet and purple crayon (similar to “Blues Clues” television show) and make a note/picture of each purple object they find.
Art: Put purple paint (or fingerpaints) in a painting center or easel. Or, provide crayons, markers, chalk, pencils, etc. in the color of the day so they can create interesting, monochromatic (single color) pictures.
Make purple Eggshell Chalk
Make purple soap crayons
Make purple, environmentally friendly sidewalk paint
Make purple scratch-n-sniff watercolors
Turn any picture or cut-out into a homemade sticker
Make inexpensive, purple oily soap paint
Sand pictures: first, allow the child to use Elmer’s glue (or some other similar craft glue) to “paint” a picture onto a piece of paper. Then shake some colored sand over the picture. Gently shake the excess sand back into a storage container and allow the picture to dry. You could to the same thing with green glitter if you chose.
Bubble pictures: Pour about ¼ cup of dishwashing liquid into a container such as a clean, empty cottage cheese container. Add small amounts of water and tempera paint until the color is intense. Place a drinking straw into the pain mixture and blow carefully until the bubbles start to overflow. Gently place a piece of paper over the bubbles, then lift carefully. The broken bubbles leave a pretty design on the paper.
Purple balloons: Thin out Elmer’s glue (or similar craft glue) with water. Blow up a balloon. Dip colored yarn into the glue mixture and then wrap it around the balloon until the balloon is covered. Let it dry. Pop the balloon and carefully remove from you creation. You can hang this yarn balloon from the ceiling like a Chinese lantern.
Purple Necklaces: Make necklaces out of dyed wagon wheel pasta (green food coloring and rubbing alcohol mixed with the pasta - mix in large Ziploc bag and allow to dry on a garbage bag overnight). The children use tipped yarn and thread on the wagon wheels (they are a perfect size for the yarn).
Color Cubes: After filling the ice cube tray with water, add drops of red, yellow and blue the compartments. After they are frozen, place a red cube and two yellow cubes in a glass. As the cubes melt watch what happens! Do the same for yellow and blue and red and blue. It is fun to watch the ice melt and change into another color.
COLORED CRYSTALS: For each child mix 1 tablespoon Epson salts and 1 tablespoon water in a baby food jar or a clear plastic glass. Then stir in 1/4 teaspoon of the desired food coloring. Have the children observe over the next few days as the water evaporates and small crystals begin to form. Keep a magnifying glass handy for closer examination. Hint: For the best results do not use yellow.
GLITTER SPARKLE BOTTLES: Remove the label from a clean, clear 16 oz. 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!
Take a virtual fieldtrip to the Jelly Belly Jellybean Factory while you have eat purple/grape jelly beans. This is fun!
Gather plenty of color-specific ideas from The Crayola Crayon Factory
Play active games with a purple balloon or ball.
COLOR HOP (tune of Old McDonald)
I see something that is_____[color].
Do you see it too?
I see something that is [same color].
HOP there if you do.
With a hop, hop here,
And a hop, hop there. Hurry up! Hop it up!
Hop as fast as you dare.
I see something that is [color].
Do you see it too?
COLOR SONG (Tune: If you're Happy and You Know It)
If there's purple on your shoes stand up quick,
If there's purple on your shoes stand up quick.
If there's purple on your shoes,
If there's purple on your shoes,
If there's purple on your shoes stand up quick!
Of course you can change the article of clothing and the action you do to extend the song or to include others that have purple somewhere else.