Fun Day Sunday!

If you've been reading these weekly Fun Day Sunday posts, you're acquainted with the basic concept: read a fun book you with your child, sneak in some comprehension questions and do an activity (preferably, an EDIBLE activity!) Well, today we will still be doing all of that PLUS adding in an important science concept: color mixing.

I have an overwhelmingly favorite book to teach this concept:

And that's not just because white mice with little pink feet are just so darn cute. It's what these mice do with their little feet:

They MIX COLORS!

The book illustrates how each mouse mixes orange, green or purple.

However, if you can't find that particular book, this one is a close second:

What's not to like about Leo Leonni?

At school, I start off with some "magic": Using water tinted red, yellow or blue (food coloring + water in 3 clear glasses), I pour two of the colors into each of three empty glasses to make orange, green and purple. If you do this at home before reading the book, expect cheering or applause or both!

After you read the book and ask some comprehension questions("Oh my, what do you think will happen NEXT??") or sequencing questions ("Hmmm, can you help me remember what happened FIRST in the book? And then what?"), then it's time for the fun and YUMMY activity.

Ahead of time, you will have prepared small boxes of three colors of Jello: red, yellow and blue. Just make the Jello the usual way and any flavor will do, as long as the picture on the box looks either red, yellow or blue. Enlist your child to help you prepare the Jello and you will build interest in the book!

Help your child to spoon some red and yellow (more yellow than red) into a ziploc bag, zip it and let him/her "smoosh" those two colors around to make orange! Do the same with yellow + blue = green and red + blue = purple.If the purple is hard to see, try holding the baggie up toward a light.

As your child is mixing the Jello colors, you can refer back to the book...Of course, the best part is when your child gets to open the bag and eat the Jello right out of it with a spoon!

Hope your child enjoys this book and activity! Thanks for stopping by!