The Monkey with a Bright Blue Bottom by Steve Smallman and Nick Schon and published by Little Tiger is a fun story about a monkey who decides to paint the animals while they are sleeping and then when they realise what he has done, they get their own back. The pictures are bright and colourful, the story is fun to read and the book rhymes and that always makes it a hit in our house.
Activities
Paint the animals
Colour mixing
Make a jigsaw
Paint animals on large stones
Camouflage discussion
Footprint painting
Colourful fruit and vegetable platter
Rice crispy paintbrushes
Multicoloured cupcakes
Indoor
As this book involves paint the first activity could be to do some paintings of the animals in the story. These can be the colours of what the animals really have or your child/children could paint them different colours and see which they think look better. Another fun activity could be to do some colour mixing. This happens in our house every time we have the paint out. Your child/children can mix the colours by putting different paints in the same pot or by putting the paint on a palette or plate and then using the paintbrush to mix them. Both works well but the second one definitely saves paint. They could then do a colourful picture and you could always add white and black in so that they can learn how to make lighter and darker colours. Another activity could be to make a jigsaw. If you and your child/children draw the different animals on some card and then paint/colour them in and then cut them up, you have made a jigsaw. Your child/children can then try and put it back together. If they get really good at putting it back together then you could either, make another jigsaw and cut it into smaller pieces or time your child/children to see what the quickest time is that they can put their jigsaw back together.
Outdoor
The first activity could be to collect some big stones or small rocks and then your child/children can paint the different animals on them. You could hide these round the garden and turn it into an animal hunt. Another activity could be to try and paint a rock outside so that it blends in with the surroundings and then get someone else to see if they can find it. You can talk to your child/children about camouflage, and you could have a discussion about how animals are camouflaged in their habitats. A final activity could be to put some big paper outside, put some paint on a tray and then your child/children can walk onto the paint barefoot and make lots of footprints on the paper. If you can't find paper big enough you can always use washable paint with washing up liquid squirted in and then they can just walk on the floor and it can be washed away with a hose or the rain will wash it away. They could always try handprints too.
Food/Cooking
You could do a colourful fruit and vegetable platter. Your child/children can help you with the washing, chopping and arranging of the colourful foods and you could always throw some fruits and vegetables in there that they don't really like or haven't tried before. An awesome paint inspired food could be to make some rice crispy paintbrushes. You can make rice crispy rectangles with rice crispies, melted chocolate and melted marshmallow or you could buy rice krispie squares (there is no judging here). Put an ice cream stick in one end and then the other end of these can be dipped in different coloured icing so it looks like they have been dipped in paint. A final paint inspired food activity could be to make multicoloured cupcakes. You could do this by making plain cupcakes and putting multicoloured icing on or you could put food colouring in the mixture (there are lots of recipes on the internet or in a good old fashioned cookbook). Don't forget to put sprinkles/hundreds and thousands on top to add more colour.
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