Yellow makes me feel like a banana ...

Does yellow make you feel like a banana? Is red just like lava? And does purple make you feel like an onion? If so, then you, too, will succeed as an Art Mom in my child's classroom.

Being an Art Mom is simple: You prepare a little program that teaches the kids about artists or color or a style of art, and then develop a little project to go with it. It's a lot of fun - second graders are a very appreciative audience.

I decided to talk about color and moods - you know, how does a color make you feel? Does red make you energetic? Does gray make you sad? Share with me, children! I read the Dr. Seuss book, "My Many Colored Days," to start, and then picked out a few paintings I felt evoked certain moods.

Here's what I didn't know. Second graders don't really know how to link colors with moods. So when I'd ask, "How does yellow make you feel?" the kids would shout out, "Banana!" or "Sunny!" and when I'd say, "What do you think of brown?" I'd hear, "Chicago Bears!" or "Meat!"

It was like some free-association therapy session. By the end, we were all giggling. Luckily, the very good-natured teacher stepped in to help out.

We ran out of time before we even got to the artists. So I'm not sure we learned too much about art that day. But I feel like I did get a nice dose of color therapy.