Mouse Paint – By Ellen Stoll Walsh

Story Summary

The curious and cute white mice in Mouse Paint are having fun discovering new colors by mixing primary colors together to make secondary colors. While playing with paint, they have to be careful and clever to outsmart the cat!

Recommended Ages

• Preschool – 1st

Activity 1

• After reading Mouse Paint, review what colors are primary and what colors are secondary.
• Let the children know they are going to explore mixing colors to make secondary colors.
• Give each child a cup of red, blue, and yellow paint with a brush and white construction paper.

• Tell the children that they get to be the little mice now and to let their paint brushes dance in the puddles of paint!
• Encourage the children to mix the colors and create secondary colors on the construction paper.

Materials

• Color Splash Acrylic Paints
• Paint Brushes
• Craft Cup Disposable Containers
• White Construction Paper

Activity 2

• Making a class book is a great extension after reading Mouse Paint.
• The children will each get a piece of white construction paper. The teacher has already written a sentence at the bottom for the child to fill in: “My mouse danced in the ________ paint.” Each child can choose what color their mouse will be and write the color word on the blank to finish the sentence.
• Then the child can paint a picture (you may want to draw an outline of a mouse first!) of their colorful mouse to match their sentence.

• Once the pages are complete, the teacher will put all the pages together to make a class book.
• The class book can be shared as a read aloud and be placed on the bookshelf for children to look at on their own.

Materials

• White Construction Paper
• Crayons
• Pencils

Activity 3

• Children will make their own puppets to hold when the teacher rereads Mouse Paint.
• Each child can choose what color mouse they want to make. They will be given a piece of construction paper (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, or purple).
• Each child will also be given a teacher made mouse tracer so they can trace their own mouse.
• The teacher will model for the children how to hold the tracer with one hand and trace with a pencil in the other.
• Once the mouse has been traced onto the paper, the child can use scissors to cut out the mouse.
• After the mouse is cut out, the children will glue their mouse to a popsicle stick.

• When the glue is dry, the children can use their mice during the reading.
• While rereading the story, encourage the children to hold up their mouse when they hear their colors read aloud.

Materials

• Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Green, and Purple Construction Paper
• Fiskar Scissors for Kids
• Jumbo Popsicle Sticks
• Elmer’s Glue Stick

Activity 4

• The children will pretend to be the little mice from Mouse Paint and dance from primary color puddles (the spot markers) to the secondary color puddles.

• This can be done as a movement break after reading the story.
• The teacher will model dancing from a yellow and red marker to the orange marker.

Materials

• Spectrum Poly Spot Makers 9″

 

Guest Blogger: Melinda Brown, Reading Recovery Teacher at East Lyme Public Schools