Kathy Ross Crafts: Colors »

These crafts are designed to help children remember colors by associating them with familiar things. Kathy Ross offers at least one wonderfully clever craft for every color in the rainbow, as well as for black, white, brown, pink (a childhood favorite!), and gray. For example, yellow is represented by a Yellow Caterpillar Cuff Pin and a Yellow Pages Corn Magnet. Green comes in the form of a Green Frog Zipper Pull and a Green Monster Gift Bag. The book ends with some beautiful multicolor projects, among them All Colors Alien Pencil Tops and Chatty Color Family Puppets! Kathy Ross has drawn on her thirty years experience as a preschool teacher and curriculum developer to create crafts that preschoolers will enjoy with parental help, and that slightly older children can make on their own. Each of the twenty-one easy-to-make crafts features step-by-step illustrated instructions, and is made from easy-to-find household materials.

Kristin Harris - Children's Literature

Kathy Ross's books are incredibly creative and a brilliant addition to the plethora of kids' crafts books that are published every year. She continues, after 40 books, to come up with fresh ideas that are fun and easy to execute. She is also very good about recycling materials that are frequently found around the house. This collection of twenty-one projects is organized by the color of the object being made, in spectral sequence. A dog puppet is made out of two red plastic cups that are secured at right angles with a paper fastener. A corn magnet is made from the pages of a discarded phone book. The pages are rolled up and cut to make the kernels. They are then pasted on a piece of cardboard cut in the shape of a cob. Another really cute project that kids will enjoy is making a caterpillar cuff pin. A pipe cleaner is wrapped around a bobby pin, eyes are glued on and it is worn on the cuff or a collar. The illustrations show the object in all stages, including all supplies necessary, making it accessible to non-readers as well. 2003, Millbrook Press, Ages 3 to 8.