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BERRY SMUDGES AND LEAF PRINTS by Ellen B. Senisi

BERRY SMUDGES AND LEAF PRINTS

Finding and Making Colors from Nature

by Ellen B. Senisi

Pub Date: May 1st, 2001
ISBN: 0-525-46139-6
Publisher: Dutton

A dozen nature craft projects are displayed in vivid, color photographs, as the author/photographer of Hooray for Pre-K (2000) here explores finding and making colors from nature. Introducing each color, she attempts to explain where it is found, its function in nature, and how it affects us. For example, “Red is an attention getting color . . . Red flowers, berries, and fruits seem to say, ‘Look at me!’ ” She explains that the red apple or other fruit is eaten by animals who carry its seeds away to grow more trees. This explanation is somewhat limited, as it does not explain why some birds, beetles, and frogs are red. Surely not to encourage others to eat them! She notes that the color red is associated with emergencies, love, and anger. Following the introduction, she shows two crafts using red pigment: “berry smudges” (painting with red berries), and making potato-print wrapping paper with red dye made from cabbage leaves. She gives a list of materials, step-by-step directions, a warning when adult assistance is needed, and provides several photographs of young children creating projects. She also includes directions for making dyes from natural materials using heat, soaking, or “straight” methods. She offers a slim history of color used in dyeing faces and fabrics and more about the science of color, concluding with a brief bibliography. Though children will enjoy the striking full-color photographs of plants in nature, the text and project directions are more appropriate for a parent or teacher than the young crafters shown in the photos. Where additional craft titles are wanted, this is an attractive supplemental purchase. (Nonfiction. 9-11)