Blue Hat, Green Hat

by Sandra Boynton

Three earnest animals and one misguided turkey learn about colors, clothes, and getting dressed in this Sandra Boynton classic board book.

This whimsical first concept book, featuring a delightful read-aloud text that showcases animals, colors, and clothes, is sure to elicit giggles from little ones as they happily chime in on every spread with an OOPS .

BLUE HAT,
GREEN HAT,
RED HAT,
OOPS.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Animals, Storytime, Kids

16 pages, Board Book

First published October 11, 1984

About the author

Sandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated over eighty-five books for children and seven general audience books, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and seven music albums. She has also designed calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys for various companies.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The problems we all face when picking out what to wear! Young children will enjoy this funny look at trying to find just the right clothes. If you know of someone who is having to deal with a small child then this book might be very helpful in pointing out why it is important to help mom/dad when it is time to put clothes on!

[Charles Marchman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly and thrilling. But doesn’t rhyme.
Does taste good according to my 7 month old.

[Terra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Boynton book (and I am a HUGE fan) but I love how this book grows with your child. First you can just read the simple words. Then you can point out the colors. Then you can talk about what kind of animals are in the pictures. Then you can describe on what part of the body each animal is wearing the items of clothing.

The boy thinks the last page is hilarious, even though he's much too young to actually get the humor. I'm still not sure what he's laughing at.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once my kid was old enough to get the joke, he literally fell off the bed laughing.

[Margot Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven’t met a Sandra Boynton book that didn’t deserve all 5 stars. She is my Roman Empire.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toddler delights in yelling "oops!" at the appropriate moments.

[Little Ducky]

I love it when my brother reads this book to me. I think it's pretty silly and like to say "oops" along with that goofy turkey. 👶

[Kathryn Beal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 10-month-old's favorite book! He laughs out loud at the jokes! Such a joy to read this with him. To any mamas and papas out there: Everything by Sandra Boynton is brilliant.

[Tim Lenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to comedic timing, few books do it better than Blue Hat, Green Hat. Sandra is a master story teller and it shows. Her pacing, setup, and delivery satisfy time, and time, and time, and time again.

[Elise Cohen]

"A wonderful little book for toddlers and also for the learning disabled. Not only is the dialogue very brief, but the portrayal of a turkey who cannot dress himself properly according to common sense or general social rules hits a chord with those who have trouble assessing social relationships. To toddlers, it's just funny and cute to see a turkey who can't figure out that his shoes go on his feet and that when jumping in the pool he shouldn't be fully dressed in street clothes."

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually think Karanina is the first person I read this book over and over to. It is a fantastic read aloud, short and goofy.

[Ellary · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's cute; I'll give it that. But something in me cannot help but be offended by the sheer stupidity of the Turkey character. As an avid learner of dressing oneself, I was unamused.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing because it was the first book that my son laughed (his head off) at and was interested in.

[Laura Giessler · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of our favorites from years gone by. Giving it to friends for a baby shower, so I re-read it to my "kids" who just arrived home from college. #oldtimes!

[sweetchillisauce]

thanks lucy for reading this out loud to me on facetime to help with my #2020 reading challenge!

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was Rowan’s introduction to Sandra Boynton, and I’m honestly shocked it’s still in one piece considering how many times Rowan has read it, and the number of car journeys it’s been on. For a few months it was the default car book, and he would just chill in his seating flipping pages while we ran errands. Now it’s back to being a bedroom book, and he still giggles with every “OOPS!”

[Maeve’s Reading Adventures · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of the 3rd book haul from the library that Maeve (4 months) and I got

This is a very simple book, good for babies as well as for kids who are beginning their reading journey and learning colours, animals, how to put clothes on themselves!

[Kristen Hylton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for bilingual storytime! I read it in Spanish and pointed to the articles of clothing as I read, and translated as I went. I asked the kids to help me translate to English too: "Azul el sombrero... what color is this hat? Blue! Azul is blue in Spanish." Or I'd ask, "Who is wearing the yellow pants? The elephant, yes! El elefante lleva los pantalones amarillos."

This book is great for teaching colors and articles of clothing. And it's funny, too! The turkey puts the clothes on all the wrong parts of its body, and it's fun to ask the kids where the turkey is wearing its clothes and where they really belong!

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read about green hat, red hat and Oops! I liked it because I just read about it. I just read with you, Dad.

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four animals model their colorful clothes, but the poor turkey can never quite get it right. Oops. Hilarious from beginning to end.

[Danielle T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animals, colors, and oopses, oh my

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra is a nonstop hit maker.

[Charlie Stubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the first Boynton books we read and still a favorite!

[Christopher Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

At its core, “Blue Hat, Green Hat” is a simple concept - Anthropomorphic animals seem to have gathered and are having a costume party. The Bear, Moose, and Elephant have made the rookie mistake of inviting Turkey to join the group.

While the core group of animals seem to be having a blast trying on various bits of colored clothing and bragging about their items, Turkey can’t seem to get his act together.

The antics of the dumb Turkey was met with peals of laughter, giggles, and smiles. The visible look of shock and embarrassment on Elephants face was particularly enjoyed.

The big payoff at the end when we think Turkey has finally straightened up was the best part for sure. Lots of studying this page and laughing at Turkey.

All in all, my wife found this book to be very amusing.

[Melissa Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meadow laughed every time I read "oops!"

[Amber Goebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Sandra Boynton books! Her animal characters are always so cute and funny and her stories make children and adults alike laugh out loud. Blue Hat, Green Hat fits the Boynton mold that I have come to know and love. This board book is perfect for ages 2-4. It features an elephant, bear, moose, and turkey. On each two page spread, the animals are trying on articles of clothing, each wearing a different color. For instance, the elephant wears a blue hat, the moose wears a green hat, the bear wears a red hat...and then the silliness, the turkey is standing on his yellow hat! The text reads, "Blue hat, green hat, red hat, oops." The turkey wears his clothing in interesting ways all through the story, until the very last page when he figures out how to put everything on...but, then he jumps in a pool! Oops! I love that this book ends with a punch line. I think kiddos won't even realize they are learning about dressing themselves and color names with this funny story.

[Jazmine Shoup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Hat, Green Hat is a great children's picture book, written and illustrated by Sandra Boynton. The book is a great pattern book for young children. The book shows the pattern of different animals wearing the same article of clothing in a different color, and then how the last animal in the sequence messes up the pattern and wears the article of clothing in the wrong way. It is a simple and silly book that teaches a great lesson to a young reader about patterns. The illustrations were great, and colorfully created! This book would be an appropriate pre-kindergarten to Kindergarten book. As a teacher, it could be used to teach a great lesson about not only patterns and predictability, but about colors. Overall, I thought that the book offered a great way to teach about patterns in a fun and interesting way to a child!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harriet is a bit of a prop comedienne. Her favorite joke involves putting something unlikely on her head and asking innocently, "Hat?" So when she saw Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton at the library, she had to check it out.

With many of Boynton's books, there is an animal who just doesn't fit in. In the case of Blue Hat, Green Hat, that animal is a turkey. All the other animals can get themselves dressed but not the turkey. He tries but somehow things never seem to end up on him correctly.

Besides being a charming story about the troubles of learning how to get dressed (or prop comedy 101 for preschoolers), the book teaches colors, animals, parts of the body and clothing. It's also charming and very funny. The turkey, by the way, looks charming in his purple socks.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We routinely dress ourselves wrong in this house as a way to cajole the kids into dressing properly (hey, whatever works, right?), so this book was right up our alley when the nieces were younger.

Every page has every animal putting on a different type of clothes correctly - except the turkey. Oops.

Eventually he's correctly dressed (purple socks!) - just in time to jump in a pool. Oops!

Hysteria for the toddler crowd.

At 5 and 2.5, the nieces are rapidly outgrowing this book, but I love it so much still that I'm reluctant to give it away just yet.

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

With many of Boynton's books, there is an animal who just doesn't fit in. In the case of Blue Hat, Green Hat, that animal is a turkey. All the other animals can get themselves dressed but not the turkey. He tries but somehow things never seem to end up on him correctly.

Besides being a charming story about the troubles of learning how to get dressed (or prop comedy 101 for preschoolers), the book teaches colors, animals, parts of the body and clothing. It's charming and very funny.

Great for unison-reads.