Green

Today we thought about green.

We had a fantastic spread of green fabric, dresses, books, food, craft and lots of other stuff today on the display table. Vicky thought that the swirls of green looked like she'd just walked into the ocean and with the sun shining in through the windows (finally!) there was a greenish light in the hall which was very soothing.

We started off the brain-storming by talking about the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz which had been designed as that colour to reflect the colour of the American dollar and thus represent America.

We went on to nature and how so many things in the natural world are green. We didn't name all the plants which were green or we'd have been there for ever, but we talked about most plants which grow in the sunshine are green due to the presence of chlorophyll. We thought of green fruits and vegetables and came up with: avocado, broccoli, grapes, cucumbers, apples, peas, lettuce, cabbage, limes, courgettes, artichokes, sprouts, basil, parsley and kiwi fruit. Animals we thought of were: frogs, lizards, crocodiles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, dinosaurs, parrots, parakeets and other tropical birds, and green woodpeckers.

We discussed how the colour green makes us feel: fresh, happy, go, relaxed.

We thought of fictional characters which are green in body or hair or wear green: Peter Pan, the Wicked Witch, the Joker, Ben 10, Mr Men, Robin Hood, aliens, Jolly Green Giant, Incredible Hulk, Shrek, the Grinch, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Green Power Ranger, the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We mentioned that green is in a lot of countries' flags – it's a sacred colour in Islam so is in the flags of a lot of Islamic countries.

Green is also used as a shorthand to mean looking after the natural world, looking after the planet and other environmental issues, such as in Greenpeace and the Green Party. This association can also be seen in the colour used most often for packaging of organic food.

Harrison had made a fantastic herb picture which he showed us – it was made of sprigs of various green herbs which could also be sniffed, so the viewer could see and smell each herb.

Charlotte had written a story and a poem:

Green Grass by Charlotte

Green is fresh,
Green grass.
The green grass is as fresh as anything.
Fresh grass.
It shines so much for me,
And it's really nice.

The Rainbow by Charlotte

Once upon a time there was a rainbow who decided to go adventuring. He crept into the sky and just then the rain poured down and the sun shone – and he came right up into the sky.

Rainbow Story by Thomas

This is a story of a rainbow and a pen named Thomas. Thomas was its name. A talking pencil spoke to the pen and the rainbow spoke to both of them. The pen and the pencil drew a rainbow together.

A Green Builder by Thomas

One day Wendy went out of her house. Bob the Builder's house was next door and she went to see him. They decided to build a tree house and a toy train.


Isaac had brought a painting he had done all in shades of green. It had been done mainly with his fingers.

Freya had made a rosette-type badge out of green crepe paper with trailing crepe paper ribbons.

Emmie-Mae had a green lunch – all green food with a green knife and fork and everything.

Harrison pointed out that if you mixed the yellow writing on the blue background of his T-shirt it made green.

Heath had chosen a green toy truck to bring, but his mum had forgotten to pack it!


Our green activities today included making green slime out of gelatine, water, syrup and food colouring. It smelt like candy floss and apparently tasted sweet for those brave enough to try it, as it really looked horribly gloopy and snotty.

Mandy made moss gardens with some of the children – with small individual clay holders and tiny frogs and owls to sit inside them.

Frances had brought green play dough, which is always popular, and also green pots to plant cress in and make cress-heads. The children added faces, arms and feet to the pots and took them home to wait for the 'hair' to sprout from the top.

We also made snakes out of paper plates cut in a spiral and decorated. The children were much more imaginative than to stick to just green for the snakes though.

We decorated some green cellophane ready for use in our green light box, and ended with some parachute games.