Author: Dr. Seuss
Title: My Many Colored Days
Illustrator: Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Year: 1973
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Concept Book
Reading Level: Emergent, Early
Interest-Level: Preschool, Elementary
Topics: Colors, emotions, feelings, moods, animals
Summary: My Many Colored Days teaches children about different moods and feelings and colors that can be associated by it. Dr. Seuss wanted the book to have “new art style and pattern of thinking” which is what Steven Johnson and Lou Fancher depict in their paintings. Dr. Seuss also associates the colors with different animals.
Extension Activities: Bubble Art
Preparation: In pie tins, put in ½ cup of water, a tablespoon of dish soap, and 1-2 tablespoons of tempera paint. Make a few different colors for each table so the kids can pass them around and share colors.
-Give each student a piece of white paper, a straw, and at each table have one color per kid.
-Have the children blow into the pie tins with their straws so the bubbles grow and once they reach the top they put their paper over the pie tin so the bubbles pop on their paper creating bubble art.
-Have the students pass around the different colored pie tin to mix and create different bubble art.
-You can also teach the kids about primary colors: start out by having them show what they are on a piece of paper using the bubble art: blue, red, and yellow. Then use follow up questions like: “What colors do you have to mix to make green or pink or purple, etc?”
