WHAT COLOR IS HAPPY?

If you can pick any color, what color means HAPPY to you?

This is the perfect month to decide because
AUGUST IS....
NATIONAL CRAYON COLLECTION MONTH!  Once you decide which color is your "Happy Color", call it that from now on. And use it to do each of these fun, ways to be creative.

1. Make an entire picture of anything--your pet, your home, your family, ANYTHING--just using that color. But use it lightly, brightly, in dots, and stripes.

2. Write a 1 paragraph story that uses the word "HAPPY" a lot. Only instead of the word put a big splotch of that color. Just see how HAPPY that story makes you!




Being National Crayon Collection Month, August is the perfect time to share several of my favorite children's books that star crayons.Of course, I have to include the story of Crayola Crayons' Invention. The Crayon Man (Natascha Biebow/HMH Books for young readers, 2019)



Red: A Crayon's Story (Michael Hall/Greenwillow Books, 2015)

Red has a bright red label, but he is, in fact, blue. His teacher tries to help him be red (let's draw strawberries!), his mother tries to help him be red by sending him out on a playdate with a yellow classmate (go draw a nice orange!), and the scissors try to help him be red by snipping his label so that he has room to breathe. But Red is miserable. He just can't be red, no matter how hard he tries! Finally, a brand-new friend offers a brand-new perspective, and Red discovers what readers have known all along. He's blue! This funny, heartwarming, colorful picture book about finding the courage to be true to your inner self can be read on multiple levels, and it offers something for everyone.

The Day The Crayons Quit (Drew Daywalt/Philomela Books, 2013)

Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun.

What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best?



Now make up a fun short story about crayons having an adventure!
Who will be the star? Your HAPPY, of course!