Celebrate the Color Green Theme and Activities

March is the month for celebrating St.Patrick's Day and Spring. There are plentiful resources for curriculum planning for these themes. Take on a new perspective and explore the color of the season with the children; celebrate green!

Make Things Green

Cornstarch Finger Paint
-3 T. sugar
-1/2 cup cornstarch
-2 cups cold water
-Food coloring
-Soap flakes or liquid dishwashing soap
Mix sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan over low heat. Add cold water and stir until mixture is thick. Remove from heat. Divide into four or five portions (in muffin tins or cups). Add a drop or two of food coloring to each portion and a pinch of soap flakes or soap. Stir and let cool. Store in airtight container.

Green Playdough
-1 cup flour
-1 tbsp vegetable oil
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup salt
-2 T. cream of tartar
-Food coloring
Mix all ingredients in saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly until ball forms. Cool and knead until smooth.

Green Slime
2 Mixing bowls
-8 oz. Glue
-1 T. Borax powder
-Green and Yellow food coloring
Combine 1 cup of cold water with 8 ounces of glue in a medium mixing bowl. Combine 1 tablespoon of Borax powder with 1/2 cup of hot water in a second bowl. Keep stirring until the Borax has dissolved. Add about 10 drops of green food coloring and 10 drops of yellow food coloring to the Borax mixture. Gradually add the hot Borax mixture to the glue-water mixture and stir about 30 seconds. Mix the ingredients thoroughly. In less than a minute, you'll have a gooey, non-sticky, stretchy slime. Store your slime in a plastic bag or airtight plastic container. The goop can keep for several weeks if placed in the refrigerator between uses. (source: Ehow.com.

Songs and Fingerplays About Green

"It's Not Easy Bein' Green"
Where is Green? (Give each child a paper cutout with a different color)
Teacher: Where is Green child, where is Green child?
(child with green paper stands and sings: Here I am, Here I am!)
Teacher: How are you today sir/maam?
Child: Very well I thank you.
All: Sit right down, Sit right down. (continue with the other colors)

If your Clothes Have Any (Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)
If your clothes have any green on clap your hands...
continue with other colors

There's a color we all know (Tune: Old MacDonald Had a Farm)
There's a color we all know,
G-R-E-E-N.
It's the color that means "Go!"
G-R-E-E-N.
Oh, grass is green and lettuce is green,
Leaves and spinach and peas are green.
There’s a color we all know,
G-R-E-E-N.

5 Little Speckled Frogs
5 little speckled frogs sitting on a speckled log, eating the most delicious bugs - YUM, YUM!
One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool.
Now there are 4 speckled frogs - GLUB, GLUB!
(repeat until no frogs are left)

Five Little Froggies
Five little froggies sitting on a well.
One looked up and down he fell.
Froggies jumped high, Froggies jumped low.
Four little froggies danced to and fro.
Four little froggies sitting on a well.
(continue until there are no little froggies left)

There Was a Little Turtle
There was a little turtle. (make a small circle with your hands)
He lived in a box, (make a box with both hands)
He swam in a puddle, (wiggle hands)
He climbed on the rocks. (climb fingers of one hand up over the other)
He snapped at a mosquito, (clap hands)
He snapped at a flea, (clap hands)
He snapped at a minnow, (clap hands)
He snapped at me. (point to yourself)
He caught the mosquito, (mimic catching a bug)
He caught the flea (same action)
He caught the minnow, (same action)
But he didn't catch me!

Make Green Treats

Magic Pudding
Place 1 tablespoon of pistacio pudding mix into a sterilized baby food jar for each child. Add 2 tablespoons of cold milk and watch as the contents turn green. Have the children shake their jars (careful not to drop them) for about 45 seconds.

Green Fruit Dip
Combine equal parts of cream cheese and marshmallow cream. Add some green food coloring. Use as a dip for apples or other fruit.

Read About Green

• Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr.Suess
• Purple, Green & Yellow by Author Robert Munsch

Fun With Green

What Do You See?
In advance draw a teddy bear face onto several different colors of construction paper. Glue the bears onto craft sticks. During group time pass a bear out to each child. Chant the following rhyme: Green bear, green bear what do you see? The child or children with the green bear must stand up and identify something in the room that is green.

Sand and Water Table
Add green food coloring to water and freeze. Add green ice cubes to the water table. Color uncooked rice with green food coloring for a change in the sand table.

Green Vegetable Prints
Provide an assortment of green vegetables cut in half(cucumbers, green peppers, green beans, celery, etc.) and allow children to dip vegetables in green paint and make prints.

Green Sensory Bag
Pour light corn syrup into a zip-lock bag. Add drops of blue and yellow food coloring, seal the bag, and let children move it back and forth to see the colors blend and turn green.