What If Rainbow is an activity I designed in my early years of teaching. I periodically come back to it for its flexibility and creative writing possibilities. I originally designed it as a writing center activity. I used to have a slew of file folder activities on hand for students to work on in their spare time. This is one of those folder items. I now use it as a small group activity or for the entire class.

Directions:

1. Prepare the following topics on color coordinated index cards or pieces of construction paper. Laminate them for durability:
   • Everything were yellow
   • The sky stayed black
   • The sky was red at night
   • Everyone had orange teeth
   • Our skin was green
   • All our houses were pink
   • Your hair turned blue everytime you cried
2. Introduce the lesson:
   

   Have you ever wondered what it would be like if suddenly colors seemed to get mixed up, began appearing where they never have before? Think of all the possibilities!

3. Select a What If color card as described in number one above.
4. Read the card and make a list of all the possibilities on a sheet of paper.
5. Select one or two possibilities and on another sheet of paper write a story about what happened.