The Color Green

[60 Minutes]

Your friends will be green with envy when they see how much fun you and your child are having doing special activities on your "green" day!

You'll need:

• green leaves • green crayon • paper • lettuce • spinach • zucchini • green pepper • chives • sprouts • green paint • green food coloring • eggs • green construction paper • scissors • frying pan • spatula • cucumber • pickle • plastic drinking straws • yarn

What to do:

1. Start the day by looking through your wardrobes together and each choosing at least one green article of clothing to wear.
2. Read the classic book, Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss as you and your child prepare scrambled eggs tinted with green food coloring for breakfast.
3. Go outdoors and sit in the green grass, if possible. Look carefully for a green insect, a leaf, a worm, and maybe a four-leaf clover. Invite your child to pick leaves from trees and bushes.
4. At home, give your child a green crayon and paper. Show her how to make leaf rubbings.
5. Together jump like a frog; hop, hop, hop. What sounds do frogs make?
6. Invite your child to help you make an all-green salad for lunch using ingredients such as lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, zucchini, green peppers, chives, and sprouts.
7. She can make prints on paper with the discarded ends of these green vegetables and green paint.
8. Eat a pickle--is it sweet or sour?
9. Together, cut shamrocks from green construction paper. Help your child punch a hole in the center and thread these onto a length of green yarn (large enough to fit over her head) and space the shamrocks between cut pieces of clear plastic drinking straws. Tie the ends together. She will be delighted to wear this "lucky leprechaun" necklace on St. Patrick's Day or any other day.
10. Go on a Green Hunt. Challenge your child to find 10 items that are green in your home. Count them together.

Let's Talk: Ideas to Explore Together.

• How many green things did we find outdoors? Inside the house? Let's name them.
• If you could be "green," what would you be? Where would you live?

Useful information:

While you are having fun together, your child is developing an understanding of the color green.