Harold and the Purple Crayon Book
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson is special to me, because it's one of the first books Smarty read completely independently. She was 3 and a half then. I brought the book home from the library, Smarty grabbed it, hugged her favorite kitty toy, settled herself at the table and proceeded to read it aloud. Shall we just say that she never stopped since.
The story itself is simple, but the power of the story is in the illustrations that unfold as a young main character of the story creates his own world around him. It's hard to believe that Harold would be a grandfather by now, since the book was first published in 1955. Books like Harold and the Purple Crayon age gracefully and continue to delight new readers of every generation.
Extension Activities for Harold and the Purple Crayon
Of course, I envisioned Smarty drawing her own Harold adventure, but she is not really artistically inclined on any day and was really not in the mood on that day. She, however, told me the story to accompany her scribbles,
Once upon a time there was a boy named Gavin. He went for a long walk without his mama and papa, and then he got lost. He was looking for the moon, but he couldn’t remember his window. It was very sad. The end. In other words, Smarty did not perceive the story as an exciting adventure, she actually thought of it as a rather unpleasant experience of being on one's own - something that she was not quite ready for. Perhaps, she would have had more fun with the story extensions if we had tried one (or more) of these activities:
- Play dough made with real crayons from Sugar Aunts
- Yarn art inspired by Harold and the Purple Crayon from Buggy and Buddy
- Giant Harold and the Purple Crayon mural from Homegrown Friends
- Purple Lavender Crayon Soaps from Frogs, Snails, and Puppydog Tails
- Harold and Purple Crayon dry erase activity from Mama, Papa, Bubba
Your Turn
Have you read Harold and the Purple Crayon to your kids and did they enjoy it?
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18 comments:
We love this book. It is read often in our house.
I love the stories Anna makes up.
We love the Harold books - I think we have three of them now.
We're having a drawing burst here, finally. I think that from a fine motor skills standpoint, Tornado Boy is just more ready for it. The other thing that we're doing is breaking pictures into their base shapes to help him visualize how to create a particular object on paper.
We love the Harold books here - I think we have three of them now.
We're having a drawing burst here, finally. I think from a fine motor skills standpoint, Tornado Boy is just more ready now. We're also working on breaking items into their basic shapes so that he can start to visualize what he wants to create on his paper.
Harold and the Purple Crayon was one of the first books I remember my dad reading to me as a child. It continues to be one of my favorite books -- and Harold's continuing adventures always make me smile!
What a great StArt book! Hopefully Anna will like some of the sequels better.
Today was the first day that Emma drew something based on a book - she drew the angry pixie from Enid Blyton's book "The Faraway Tree", which I read aloud to the kids while they played.
I'd guess the sequels will get a better reception, I think there's one about a castle.
Either way her stories are as always fun to read.
We did better with the later books in the series. Clara was afraid of the dragon in this one (this is the one with the dragon isn't it?)
I love the Purple Crayon! I wonder if JC will like it? You and other bloggers are remindng me to do some art posts!
ohh that book as been on my list of ones to take out too :). I hope she will like the sequels better!
We have not read that title yet despite its popularity. I just keep forgetting to search for it!
We haven't read this book in awhile, I will have to check it out the next library trip!
Thank you for linking up to stART :0)
I don't know why, but I've never been interested in the Harold books. I should probably float them with my girls and see how they're received... seems like so many people love them!
I love this book! What a great jumping off book!
勤勉是幸運的右手，節儉是幸運的左手。......................................................
This is one of my all time favorite children's books, but it could have something to do with my "imaginary drawings" all over the walls of my parents' house when I was a kid.
This is one of Ryleigh's favorite books! We have not read any of the sequels though. That is fantastic that she can read the story by herself:)
What a cute book! Must see if I can find it here!
I love this book. I also have an anthology of the other books. I don't think they're "sad," but it's been a while since I've read them.
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