MSU Extension Child & Family Development

BEFORE READING:

• Show the children the front of the book. Ask them to guess what the book is about.
• Ask them if they know what kind of animal is on the front cover. Name it for them if they don’t know.
• Ask them what color the buckets are.

WHILE READING:

• Stop at any time if there is something you or the children would like to talk about.
• Ask them questions so that they can connect what is happening in the book to things they already know about. Try some of these ideas:
  • When do you take a bath or shower?
  • Name some things that are red.
  • What is your favorite color?

AFTER READING:

• Spend some time talking about the story. Ask the children things like:
  • What color was the bunny at the beginning of the book?
  • What did the bunny jump into?
  • What color was the bunny at the end of the book?
  • How many different colors was the bunny?

MATH AND SCIENCE

Have the children gather all of the markers or crayons. Have them separate the markers or crayons into piles of the same color. Ask them to label every color pile. Next get a sheet of paper to make a tally of all the crayons. List all of the different colors at the top of the sheet. Have them predict what color they have the most of before they start. Then, make a tally mark according to color for every crayon or marker. Count the tallies and see if their prediction was correct.

THINKING SKILLS

Go back through the book to see what colors mix together to make new colors. If you have food coloring, fill three cups with water and add food coloring to make red, yellow and blue. Have the children guess what will happen when you mix different colors together. Test it out to see if their predictions were correct.

READING READINESS

As you read the book, ask the children what they think the rabbit is doing. Before you turn each page, ask them what they think will happen next.

ART

Draw a large outline of a bunny on a piece of paper. Find colored objects to glue on to the bunny to make your own version of a colorful rabbit. Try cotton balls for a white rabbit, grass for a green rabbit, cornmeal for a yellow rabbit, or even different colored stripes. Be creative!

MUSIC AND MOVEMENT

Sing the words “Red, orange, yellow…green, blue, purple…look at the rainbow…sparkle and shine!” As you sing this, making up the melody as you go, have the children point to things that are these colors.

PRETEND PLAY

Pretend to be a rabbit. Make a snack together that a rabbit would like to eat. Celery, carrots or salad are a few suggestions. When you are moving around the room, hop like a rabbit would.

MOTOR SKILLS

Ask the children to help you with the laundry. (Bring in a pile of clothing to have the children work with). Sort out dark colors from light col- ors. When it’s time to fold clothes, ask them to help you fold all of the white shirts, or blue socks.

For more information, visit:MSU Extension early childhood development site.