Colors - Part 1

Color Chaos! by Lynn Rowe Reed


Something quite strange is afoot at Colin's school. The new substitute principal, Mr. Greystone, has a million rules. He becomes so furious when students draw on his bulletin board that he bans colored art supplies, which has an eerie effect on the once-vibrant school. But Colin's crayons don't want to stay put in the trash can, so they plan an escape. Will kaleidoscopic hues return to Hughes Elementary?


This is a fun and very colorful book.  It even teaches kids about colors and has some fun activities in the back.  

My kids have not always been big fans of coloring or drawing.  This was such a puzzle to me.  I am not an artist at all, but I have always wished that I were.  I love doodling, painting; coloring books aren’t even safe near me.  Why wouldn’t anyone like painting or coloring?  Well, my crazy kids didn’t.  Until they did.  That’s how fast it happened.  All of a sudden my oldest was a drawing/coloring machine.  My second followed close behind.  They are always begging asking me if they could paint.  Remember how I said that I love painting?  Well, I don’t love cleaning it up.  So I rarely gave into the pleading.  All that might change after our activity today.  The mess was completely worth it.

I was trying to find a fun art project to do with my kids and came across marble painting.  My son informed me that he did it at school, so he was kind of an expert at it.  Right then I knew we were in good hands.  

I had a canvas that I had attempted to paint once (good intentions, right?) that I was no longer using.  I lightly sanded it and spray-painted it white.  Reduce, reuse, recycle.  That’s me, Mrs. Green.  Anyway, so I cut a cardboard box up, lengthwise and taped it around the canvas.  This prevents the marbles from flying all over the place during the process.  I poured our paint into paper bowls for easy access.  I could not find marbles, so we used gum balls.  Do not reuse those.  My boys were disappointed with that suggestion.  (My baby didn’t listen and popped one in his mouth.  It was covered in yellow paint.)  

I almost forgot to put aprons on my kids.  This is a MESSY activity.  Put them in old clothes or a smock.  You won't regret it.  And make sure they go to the bathroom before you begin, too.  Unless you enjoy cleaning paint off of toilets.  I don’t so much, but didn’t heed this step.  

Now the fun begins.  Dip the marbles/gum balls in the paint and roll them all over the canvas.  Those little fingers are going to get messy.  I brought out paper towels to clean up the occasional mess.

Pick up canvas and tip it every which way, this gets the colors mixed around.  Do this until your masterpiece is complete.

And there you go, a beautiful painting made just for your home.  Color chaos...

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