PEN IN HAND: Create a Color Poem

Begin by reading aloud a poem from the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill and illustrated by John Walner.  It is a collection of 13 poems, each about a different color.  It was first published in 1961 and then updated in 1989 with lovely new illustrations.  Each poem is titled, What is (color word)?  The following an excerpt from one of the poems:

What is Red?

  Red is a sunset

  Blazy and bright.

  Red is feeling brave

  With all your might.

  Red is a sunburn

  Spot on your nose.

  Sometimes red

  Is a red, red rose.

When introducing your child to this activity, remember that you are teaching them descriptive words, otherwise known as adjectives.  Depending on your child's experience with parts of speech, you may need to make a list of nouns and adjectives that describe your child's color word prior to creating a color poem.

(color) _________  is (adj. & noun) _________ and (adj. & noun) _________.

  

(color) _________ tastes like (adj. & noun) _________.

(color) _________ feels like (adj. & noun) _________.

   

It is (adj. & noun) _________, (adj. & noun) _________, and (adj. & noun) _________.

     

(color) _________ is (adjective) _________.

BLUE is...

Blue is a beautiful sky and a birthstone ring. 

Blue tastes like cotton candy.

Blue feels like the wet ocean.

It is soft breezes, scented flowers,
and bright stones.

Blue is refreshing.

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For a very young child, simply ask them to describe a color and display their sentence in the middle of a sheet of black construction paper.  They go through magazines to find examples of the color chosen and have your child glue torn pieces of the magazine pages around the descriptive sentence to create a color frame.