My Favorite Color is Blue. Sometimes
Suggested Group(s): Young/Middle/Teen/Adult
Purpose: To provide an opportunity for group members to use art and color as a way to identify, reflect upon, and express feelings and/or grief experiences.
Task/need: Moving toward the pain of the loss, living on the grief spiral
My Favorite Color is Blue. Sometimes. by Roger Hutchison
The text and illustrations of this lushly colored picture book guide the reader through different emotions and reactions related to grieving, including shock, tears, anger and hope. My Favorite Color is Blue. Sometimes. Is a children's picture book by design, but accessible to people of all ages.
Materials:
- Book My Favorite Color is Blue. Sometimes. By Roger Hutchison
- Art Grab Cards (prints of various art pieces in the abstract expression style — this type of art style emphasizes free, spontaneous, and personal emotional expression)
Activity description:
The purpose of this activity is to provide an opportunity for group members to use art and color as a way to identify, reflect upon, and express feelings and/or grief experiences.
Prep for the activity by spreading the art cards out in the middle of the table. Begin by reading My Favorite Color is Blue. Sometimes. Invite the group members to share:
- What colors in the story stood out to you/what colors in the story do you identify with?
- Do you agree with the way the author describes the colors or do you identify differently with the colors?
Just as the book describes feelings and grief experiences through colors, invite the group members to sort through the cards and select one (or several) cards that represent or speak to:
- Their feelings
Or
- Their grief journey
Allow each group member to share. Point out commonalities and themes.
Suggestions:
A follow up activity can be for the group to create their own abstract expressionist art on canvases
