Technicolor talk

A young girl saw a black and white movie on TV did a double take. Used to the world of color and colorization, she was uneasy when she saw the actors in a gray world. "It looks funny," she said. "It makes me sad."

Challenge your child’s imagination by asking her to contemplate her feelings and associations with color. Here are some ideas to start:

• What would the world be like in black and white? What problems would be created in a world without color? How would that world make you feel?
• What if you woke up tomorrow and the whole world was red (or black, or yellow, or orange)? How would that make you feel?
• Do you associate certain colors with certain emotions? Would you like to eat in a kitchen with black walls?
• How many color phrases do you know? (Green with envy, red as a beet, having the blues, etc.) Illustrate each of them with a colorful picture.
• Some poets believe that colors talk. What does orange—or chartreuse—say to you?