A Celebration of the Color Green!
For the Classroom~and Family Fun! While this page is presented with the classroom in mind, many of the activities are suitable for adaptation in your home environment. If you need help adapting these activities for use other than the classroom, please let me know and I will try to help.
~Green Hat Day~
Declare a Green Hat Day! Provide plenty of crepe paper, tissue paper, paper plates and construction paper. You might like to assign this as a project for the family to do at home, and then when Green Hat Day comes, everyone wears their creation.
Green is...Green Day Celebration
Ask students to wear green clothing. See how many shades of green they can wear. Group them according to who is wearing a shirt, green socks, green shoes, etc. Graph your results.
Eat something green. Write about what you ate.
Fill a jar with green jellybeans. Students can estimate.
Tint water green and blow to make paintings. Prepare four or five jars of green water. Use straws for blowers.
Make a green "tear" picture. Use many shades of green.
Make a list of all "gr" words. Draw a picture of two of them/ Put into a class booklet.
Set out cans of green food. Measure the height of each can and the distance around...
Weigh each can. List words that tell about weight.
What does it mean to have a green thumb? Trace your hand on a sheet of white construction paper. Color the thumb green. Write your green thumb story on your hand print.
Make a green collage. All class members can participate. Cover an entire bulletin board area with green things.
Make a class book of things that are green. Collect pictures from magazines, advertisements, and catalogs.
Green Grapes Art Project
Materials Needed: Green tissue paper, paper, and glue
Directions: Cut green tissue paper or crepe paper into squares. Have children scrunch them up and glue on a page to resemble a bunch of grapes.
Green Vegetable Printing
Materials Needed: Green Paint, Paper, Assortment of green vegetables such as green peppers, celery, cucumbers, etc.
Directions:
1. Wash and cut vegetables in half.
2. Provide paint, paper, and prepared vegetables and let children have fun printing.
Green Finger Paint
Materials Needed: *1 medium ziplock bag, Shaving cream (white), Food coloring
Directions: Mix blue and yellow food color in water to show the children how green is made. Squirt white shaving cream inside the ziplock bag, add a few drops of food coloring, and close the bag, making sure that all the air is out. This gives your child the opportunity to explore mixing colors (blue and yellow makes green, etc.) Clip a corner & finger paint with it.
Magical Frog
Need: Frog pattern on yellow paper, Blue Bingo markers
Directions: Run off a cute frog black line on bright yellow construction paper, then have the kids put dots on the frog with "blue" bingo markers. It is magic to them to see the dots turn out "green" on the frog!
"Oscar the Grouch"
Materials Needed: Film canister, newspaper, green pompom, wiggle eyes
Directions: Using 35 mm film canisters, have the children cut a little square of newspaper (approx. 3X3") put a drop of glue in the bottom of the canister and then put the newspaper in so some sticks out of the top; glue one green pompom on the newspaper, and glue two tiny wiggle eyes on the pompom (they will need help with the eyes.) it looks just like Oscar the Grouch in his garbage can. You can get all the film canisters that you need for free at a film/camera store.
Shamrock Green Collage
Need: Shamrock shape pattern, green paper, Collage materials, glue, Green paint
Directions: Cut out a shamrock shape and have a box of green collage materials- yarn, fabric, ribbon, buttons, glitter. Add green paint to glue and let them decorate.
Green On Green
Need: Green Construction Paper, Green crayons or oil pastels, White tempera paint, Paintbrushes
Directions: Draw a design or picture on the green construction paper using green
crayon. (This can get a bit tricky because its sometimes hard to see what it is you are drawing.) Just do some fun designs. Press hard with the crayon so its nice and thick. When the picture is drawn, brush some white tempera paint (not too thick)
over the paper. Like magic, lines will appear from out of nowhere!
Brainstorm a list of green foods. List them in alphabetical order. Take a poll and find out which foods children like.
Make Shamrock Jigglers
For this snack you will need two family size packages of lime Jell-O; follow directions for jigglers recipe. Chill until set. Unmold from a 9" x 13" pan by dipping the pan into hot water for 15 seconds. Cut with shamrock cookie cutters.
Suggested Literature
The Mystery of the Magic Green Ball by Steven Kellogg. New York: Dial, 1978.
Complete with a villain and a heroine, this humorous mystery solves a big problem in a little boy's life.
Activity: In the story, a mystery gypsy uses a green ball that belongs to a young boy, Timmy, as her magic ball. Timmy and his friend Peggy, paint a grapefruit green to create a fake gree ball and exchange it for Timmy's rea; ball when the gypsy isn't looking.
Have students participate in a Magic Green Ball Look Alike Contest. Have each student create a fake green ball. As a writing activity, have students write step-by-step directions for constructing their ball.
Kermit the Frog
It's Not Easy Bein' Green
Kermit: It's not that easy bein' green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-
or something much more colorful like that.
It's not easy bein' green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over
'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water-
or stars in the sky.
But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important
like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.
Click the picture to find a color page just for you!
Children love frogs!! Check out the following websites about frogs!
Green Eggs and Ham
Green Eggs and Ham a la Sam-I-Am
Ingredients
1-2 tablespoons of butter or margarine
4 slices of ham
8 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
1-2 drops of green food coloring
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
What You'll Need
Knife, medium-size mixing bowl, wire whisk or eggbeater, large
frying pan, spatula, aluminum foil, serving plates
1. With an adult's help, melt a teaspoon of butter in a large frying
pan over medium heat. Add sliced ham and brown until edges are
slightly crisp. Remove the ham from the pan, cover with aluminum
foil, and set aside.
2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Beat with a whisk until frothy. Then add 1-2 drops of green food coloring until you reach the desired shade of green.
3. With an adult's help, heat a tablespoon of butter or margarine in a large frying pan over medium heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Then add the egg mixture to the pan.
4. Stir the egg mixture with a spatula until the eggs are firm and not too runny.
5. Transfer the eggs to individual plates. Garnish with a sprig of parsley. Add the ham prepared earlier. Serve with toast or warm rolls.
Feeds 4 hungry green-egg lovers.
Green Eggs and Ham Deluxe
Ingredients:
2-4 ounces of ham
8 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
1/4 cup of chopped chives
1/8 cup of chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon of butter or margarine
What You'll Need
Knife, medium-size mixing bowl, wire whisk or eggbeater, large
frying pan, spatula, serving plates
1. With an adult's help, cut the ham into small pieces.
2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, ham, salt, pepper, chives, and parsley. Beat with a whisk until frothy.
3. With an adult's help, heat a tablespoon of butter or margarine in a large frying pan over medium heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Then add the egg mixture to the pan.
4. Stir the egg mixture with a spatula until the eggs are firm and not too runny.
5. Transfer the eggs to individual plates. Garnish with a sprig of parsley. Serve with toast or warm rolls.
Feeds 4 hungry green-egg lovers.
Green Eggs-travaganza!
Ingredients
4 eggs
3 teaspoons of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of mustard
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
2 drops of green food coloring
What You'll Need
Knife, medium-size mixing bowl, spatula, medium-size
saucepan, serving plates
1. Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. With an adult's
help, cook over high heat until the water starts to boil. Then turn the heat to low and simmer (low boil) for 10 minutes.
2. Place the cooked eggs in cold water. When they are cool enough to touch, crack the eggshells all over by rolling them on a hard surface. Peel away the shells carefully and cut the eggs in half widthwise.
3. Remove the yolks from the eggs and place them in a mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and mustard.
4. Stir the egg mixture with a spatula until it is creamy. Add green food coloring until you reach the desired shade.
5. Scoop the egg mixture back into the egg whites. Place the eggs on top of individual ham rounds and serve with toast points if desired.
Feeds 4 hungry green-egg lovers.
Recipes courtesy of Random House
The Jolly Green Giant
Read the story The Jolly Green Giant and the Scarecrow
Ho Ho Ho ~ Green Giant! Write to the Jolly Green Giant Company in Le Sueur, MN 56058. Create mini-learning centers in cans of peas and beans/ Fill with index card tasks.
Pickle Potpourri
Pickles just seem to be one of those topics that make children giggle! Capitalize on their cheer and catch them enjoying some basic skills with the following activities.
Place a man's sock inside a plastic jar. Place a large pickle inside the sock. Students reach in and write down an adjective which describes what the pickle feels like. Have students do this several times and then make a list of adjectives to be used in creative writing activities.
A Simple Pickle-Making Recipe
Place two stalks of dill in the bottom of a sterilized quart jar. Wash very fresh, medium cucumbers-enough to fill the jar-and pack them into the jar. Add two tablespoons of coarse salt, one tablespoon of sugar, a half-cup of cider vinegar and two more stalks of dill. Fill the jar to the top with cold water and seal at once. Store the jar in a cool place before using. Watching the cucumbers change to pickles is a great beginning for a discussion about change in nature.
Grow a Cucumber Plant
Give several cucumber seeds to each student and allow them to plant the seeds in small jars, cans, or empty milk cartons from the cafeteria. Students can make drawings to record the progress of the vines growth in a plant journal.
Have a pickle party! Students are invited and all must wear something green.
Stop at the store and pick up several jars of pickles. Try to select as wide a variety as possible. Have students guess how many pickles are in each jar. Find the unit cost of each pickle, the total cost of all the pickles, how many pickles each student will get to tatse, etc.
Have a contest-who can recite "Peter Piper" the fastest.
Story Starters
The Pickle That Bounced
Footprints in the Pickle Patch
The Pickle Prince
The Ticklish Pickle
The Magic Pickle
Battle of Pickle Hill
The Mystery of the Missing Pickle Jar
Sponge Painting
Use pieces of sponge for students to create pickle sponge prints. Students can cut the pickle shapes from store-purchased sponges. Provide a variety of shades of green tempera paint for the students to use.
Students may want to create their own note cards and stationary.
Overlapping of the pickle prints creates a nice effect. Mount completed pictures on construction paper.
Pickles and their adventures in and out of the jar are great activities for your students' imaginations. Let your students make pickle costumes from paper bags, inserting green cellophane for eyes and mouth. Leaves and yarn to resemble cucumber vines would make neat hair. Have students write stories and plays.
Children will love the activities at I Love Pickles.org
They might also like to visit Hickle Pickle and become a fan club member.
For adults only!!
The Glowing Pickle
This is a wonderful science experiment, first demonstrated by Mr. Wizard. It is unsuitable for children to try, but would be an excellent demonstartion by the teacher. It does require the person performing the activity to use extreme caution. I have provided links to other sites which also explain how to make a pickle glow.
Glowing Pickle Instructions
Gherkins, Weird Science
Fun Stuff: Electric Pickle
Learn About Greenland
Ocean, whales, seals, reindeer, dogs and gigantic blue-white icebergs in fantastic formations-all form part of the image of this world that is called in Greenlandic, Kalaallit Nunaat - The Land of People.
Greenland has it all - right from the traditional hunter culture in the hamlets to the modern welfare society. The world's largest island is more beautiful than almost anywhere else on earth.
There are people living in Greenland-but only 56,000 in total, all living along the coast, as the inland ice covers 85% of this huge country. There are no road links between the towns. Transport consists of airplanes, helicopters and ships.
Click the Map to Learn More About Greenland
Green Potpourri
The Green Bay Packers Official Site 
Packers Kid Zone 
Green~The Color of Money
The U.S. Mint
The U.S. Mint for Kids and Teachers
Includes games, cartoons, a section for teachers and more!
Read Anne of Green Gables online. E-text provided by Project Gutenberg.
Learn more about Anne of Green Gables at AnneSociety.org
Click the door to enter a Green Day Coloring Page!
Green Links for More Green Fun!
Use this Convenient Drop-Down Menu to Explore More St. Patrick's Day Pages
If you can think of other "green things" to celebrate-just drop me a line and I will add to the page :-) Remember-think green!
