The Color Kittens
Written by Margaret Wise Brown, Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen
IMPORTANT: BE SURE TO GET A COPY ILLUSTRATED BY THE PROVENSENS. There was an edition published in 1994 with different illustrations that don’t capture the magic of the story in my opinion.)
Darling twin kittens with rhyming names and matching outfits spend their day mixing paints into eye-popping colors and their night having magical dreams. I absolutely adored this book as a child, and I bet your kids will too! It’s by the author of Goodnight Moon. Bonus: It teaches about primary and secondary colors!
Read more about The Color Kittens here:
IDEAS FOR BRINGING THE COLOR KITTENS ALIVE
1. Try mixing paints to make different colors! If Brush and Hush can do it, so can you!
2. This super-short video shows how to start with red, yellow, and blue and end up with 12 colors arranged in a color wheel. It would be useful to watch before mixing your paints (or instead of mixing paints if you are mess-averse!)
3. Try making a paper color wheel and/or arranging various objects into color wheels. Scroll down past the color wheel instructions to see beautiful photos of “color wheels” made of all sorts of things. (Purses! Books! Pencil sharpener shavings! Folded laundry! Did I get you to look yet?)
4. This company sells a variety of color wheels, including a Colorsaurus color wheel that allows children to mix colors with no messy paints!
5. Play I Spy with the detailed illustrations in The Color Kittens. Here are some ideas to get you started: (The pages aren’t numbered, so I’m calling the title page “page 1” and going on from there.)
How many cans of paint can you count on page 4?
How many cans of paint can you count throughout the book?
Which kitten is Brush? Which is Hush? (Hint: read page 8 and look at the picture to find out!)
The kittens start out with red, yellow, and blue, and white, and they make pink, orange, purple, and green. Which of these colors is missing from the picture on page 16?
What colors can you find in the outer space picture on page 18?
Which part of the kittens’ dream do you like best?
6. Did you know that Margaret Wise Brown wrote over 100 books? Here’s a handy 13-page list. (Some are different editions of the same title or box sets.)
I’ve read many (but not nearly all!) of Margaret Wise Brown’s books, and these are my absolute favorites. Be sure to get the versions with the original illustrations!
The Friendly Book
The Sailor Dog
Mister Dog: The Dog Who Belonged to Himself
Little Fur Family
Wait Till the Moon is Full
The Runaway Bunny
The Little Island