Hard facts

A topic on colour clearly offers the opportunity to explore and investigate a wide rage of themes through a variety of high-quality children's picture books. There are so many stories that have colour as a theme, that one need never be lost for inspiration.

The theme also offers an excellent context in which to seek out information, so it is important not only to provide stories for children to browse through and read for themselves, but also to offer a good range of information texts to satisfy curiosity and enhance knowledge and understanding.

Choosing information books for the Foundation Stage can be a difficult process. Many publishers are concerned primarily with readability. Because of this, the sense of awe and wonder in a subject can be lost as authors try to use the simplest vocabulary possible. The quality of information offered can also suffer as a result of efforts to make the printed text accessible to emergent readers. Statements such as 'some flowers have blue petals' (this is taken from an information text aimed at the Foundation Stage) merely reaffirm children's existing knowledge and do little to inspire them to want to know more.