Books:

“The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse” by Eric Carle
“I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More” by Karen Beaumont
“Mouse Paint” by Ellen Stoll Walsh

This is the Way (Tune: Mulberry Bush)

This is the way we stir the paint, stir the paint, stir the paint (stirring motion)
This is the way we stir the paint so early in the morning
This is the way we dip our brush, dip our brush, dip our brush (dipping motion)
This is the way we dip our brush so early in the morning
This is the way we paint our picture, paint our picture, paint our picture (up and down strokes)
This is the way we paint our picture so early in the morning

Five Little Paintbrushes

Five little paintbrushes went out to paint
One painted white than ran away
The second painted red and jumped on the bed
The third painted green and fled the scene
The fourth painted black than ran around the back
The fifth painted yellow and felt so mellow
Then he invited everybody back!

Rainbow Colors (Tune: Hush Little Baby)

Rainbow purple
Rainbow blue
Rainbow green
and yellow too
Rainbow orange
Rainbow red
Rainbow shining over head

Come and count the colors with me
How many colors can you see?
(count)

I Know

First I put all of the colors up and we went over our colors again. Then I told them to close their eyes and took one away. I asked children to tell me what color was missing. To help some children I put up the rainbow to remind them of the colors.

I know the colors of the rainbow
Do you know them too?
If one color were missing
Would you know which hue?

Color Song (Tune: Knick Knack Paddy Whack)

Red, red, red touch your head
Blue, blue, blue tie your shoe
Brown, brown, brown bend and touch the ground
White, white, white take a bite
Black, black, black touch your back
Purple, purple, purple turn in a circle
Pink, pink, pink give a wink
Gray, gray, gray now shout hooray!

Craft

Each child was given a butterfly already cut out, hole punched and tied with ribbon. The children painted 1 half of the butterfly and folded it in half to create the same pattern on the other side. This was a very simple craft to prep and the kids had so much fun painting and were amazed when they folded the butterfly.

How it Went: I have used this craft several times now because it always goes over so well! Parents and kids had the most fun during “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More,” parents found it funny and kids loved painting themselves.