Creating colorful feeling telescopes

We spent a couple of days revisiting the story “My Many Colored Days” by Dr. Seuss – where each day is described as a particular color, with an animal that corresponds to that feeling. The first day, we made a colorful collage using frozen liquid watercolor. The second day, we viewed the world (or our classroom, at least) with rose colored glasses … aka, our colorful “feeling” telescopes!

We started by having the children decorate their telescope (aka toilet paper tube) with markers and stickers. After they were done decorating, we placed a piece of red colored Saran wrap over one end of the tube and secured it with a rubber band. When using the Saran wrap, I found I had to FOLD the Saran wrap 2-3 times so there is a color distinction when you look through the tube … to make the color deeper and more dramatic. We also could only find one color Saran wrap in the store this time of year … if you can find a few colors and give children a choice, that is definitely better. You can also use colored cellophane if you have it (instead of the Saran wrap).

When they were done, the children explored the classroom using their new telescopes … discussing some of the colors and feelings from the story as they looked around. They were quick to figure out that they could really notice the RED color through their telescope when looking at something that was all WHITE. So, this quickly also became a fun lesson in color changing!

For additional ideas that go along with “My Many Colored Days” and promote social-emotional development, check out the BOOK NOOK for this story from the Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning