Harold and the Purple Crayon is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
In "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson, young Harold embarks on a whimsical adventure using only his imagination and a purple crayon. As he draws with his magical crayon, Harold creates a world full of wonders, from forests and oceans to cities and mountains. Along his journey, Harold encounters various obstacles, including dragons and deep water, but he cleverly uses his crayon to overcome them all. With his creativity and determination, Harold navigates through his self-drawn landscapes until he eventually finds his way back home. This imaginative tale celebrates the power of a child's imagination and the limitless possibilities that come from exploring one's own creativity.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Practice making predictions throughout the book. Encourage students to check and see if their predictions were correct.
- Analyze the illustrations in the story. Discuss how they provide meaning that the words might not.
- Read the book to students without showing the pictures. Encourage them to close their eyes and visualize the story. Discuss their visualization as a class.
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Cause and effect can be a difficult skill for students. This book is a perfect mentor text for teaching this skill.
- Teach a lesson on verb tense and have students categorize examples from the book.
- Discuss how problem solving was used throughout the story.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- Creepy Crayon by Aaron Reynolds
- The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
- The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt
- I'm Not Just a Scribble by Diane Alber
- Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung
- The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
