Preschool Activities for Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Page content

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh is a cute story about three white mice who spend their days on a white sheet of paper hiding from a

cat. One day while the cat is sleeping they discover three jars of paint and begin to paint with it. As they play in the paint they find that they can make even more colors by the mixing two paints together. This a great story to use when you are teaching your preschoolers about colors and mixing colors to make new ones. You could also read it when learning about the letter m or during a theme about mice.

Mouse Paint Activities

Try some of these fun preschool activities after reading this book to your students.

M

Letter M Activity

If you are reading Mouse Paint as part of study of the letter M, this is an easy follow up activity to learn about the letter. On a large sheet of chart paper write the word mouse and draw a small picture of a mouse next to it to help the children read the word. Ask the children what sound the word starts with and what letter makes that sound. Then underline the M in mouse. Do the same thing for the word mice. Then brainstorm a list of more words that start like mouse and mice and write them on the paper, drawing a picture and underlining the M for each word.

When you have finished your chart, give each child a piece of mouse-shaped paper and have them write the letter M at the top. Tell them to draw and color at least two pictures of objects that start with the letter M. They can use the chart or think of their own. Encourage them to try to write the words to label their pictures too, if they want.

Class Book

Making a class book is a great literacy extension for a book you’ve read aloud to your class. For a Mouse Paint class book give each child a piece of white paper with the prompt, “My mouse played in the ________________ paint.” Have each child choose a color of paint for his mouse to play in and either write the color on the blank for each child or let the children try to write their chosen color. Let the children paint a picture or design on their papers in the color they that chose for their book pages. When the paint is dry, give each child a white die cut mouse to glue on his painted book page. Bind all of the papers together and add a cover. Place the book in your reading center or let each child take it home one night to share with his family.

Learning About Colors

Use the book to teach your preschoolers about what happens when you mix different colors together with this easy activity. Copy a picture of a mouse onto clear, red, blue and yellow overhead transparencies. Read the story to the class again using the overhead projector. Start with the clear mouse transparency and then show the colored ones as the mice jump into the different paint colors. Overlap the transparencies to show the new colors made as the mice mix up the paint colors. You can find more preschool activities for mixing colors right here at Bright Hub.

If your students enjoy the book and these fun preschool activities that go with it, be sure to read them Mouse Count and Mouse Shapes, also by Ellen Stoll Walsh.