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Rainbow Colors - How I Taught My Six-Year Old Niece to Colorby Jonathan FlorentinoI was looking at a certain artwork which I thought was the work of my six-year old niece. It was a landscape of a farm, which is what she most often draw ever since she started drawing. The artwork was drawn on a piece of scratch paper. What was new in the artwork was the presence of a rainbow. I smiled. I looked at the rainbow colors and they were in the correct order except that it has no green. A few hours later, while killing myself bored to death watching television, my niece approached me with a clean set of paper and her favorite set of coloring pens. "Draw me a rainbow, please," she asked me. I was surprised. "I thought you know how to draw it already? I saw it in one of your works," I told her. "The rainbow wasn't mine," she said. "It was Ate Yvonne's," she added, referring to an older friend. Feeling a bit lazy that day and not wanting to do any manual work, I proposed, "okay, I will tell you the colors, then you'll be the one to draw it." She smiled in excitement. Good thing I can still recall my rainbow mnemonics: ROY G. BIV "Red," I commenced. She eagerly picked up a Red coloring pen and drew an arc on the paper. She then looked up at me. "Owenj," I continued, saying it in a baby-talk way. She found an orange pen and drew another arc under the red arc. She looked up at me again. "Yellow," I proceeded. She stumbled upon the coloring pens and found the yellow one. She then drew a yellow arc under the orange one. "Gweeeeeeen!" I said childishly. She gave me a grin and picked a green pen. "Blue," I continued, remembering that it was once my favorite color until I decided to have green. She proceeded with her rainbow using a blue pen. I almost choke when I realized that the next letter was "I." She was looking up at me, her face reflects the eagerness to learn and to pick the next color. I squirmed, my eyeballs were looking at the upper portion of my eye sockets while trying to recall what the letter "I" means in the rainbow mnemonics. I looked back with a wrinkled face at her. I hate it, her face is still eager and I don't want to disappoint her. Then i remembered it... but it was on the tip of my tongue! Then I realized it was... INDIGO. I choked again. How can I tell my six-year old niece about indigo? What's the layman's term for indigo? How can you describe an indigo? I didn't know what exactly indigo was. I squirmed again. Looking at her at that moment felt like I was in a live game show on television with a timer to beat. My niece is still looking up at me with a happy and eager face. Giving up all hopes, I blurted, "indigo." She squirmed, still looking up at me. Probably analyzing what indigo was. I was afraid that she'll be asking what indigo is. A few seconds later, her face lightened. "Ah! Blue-violet!" She exclaimed. My jaw dropped. How could she know about indigo being blue-violet? I just gave her a nod since I don't know about indigo was, and since blue-violet is close to blue anyway. I later researched about "indigo" and found that it was a mix of blue, violet, gray and black. When I took a closer look at the ROY G BIV mnemonics, Indigo is between BLUE and VIOLET! Shame on me for just realizing it now. Her favorite set of coloring pens have blue-violet in it. "Violet," I finally said. She ended her activity with a violet pen... and she got a rainbow! I treasure my niece. She always reminds me of the beauty of simple life, the joy of layman's terms, the fun in simple processes, and the freedom of free-flowing thoughts. Article Source: EzineArticles.com |
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