The Day the Crayons Quit Activities and Comprehension Questions

The Day the Crayons Quit promotes communicating our needs and walking in someone else’s shoes. Read on to find The Day the Crayons Quit activities and comprehensions questions.

In The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, Duncan learns his crayons have different needs when they communicate their problems with the way he treats them. Its themes include:

Walk in someone else’s shoes.
Communicate needs and wishes to be understood and respected.
Consider the feelings and point of view of others.
Everyone has a different purpose and different needs.
Negotiation can bring about change and conflict resolution.

The Day the Crayons Quit also promotes:

fairness and inclusiveness
different perspectives
persuasion and advocation
activism and protest
inference
problem and solution
point of view
personification
character traits

Scroll down for The Day the Crayons Quit activities, discussion questions and videos.

The Day the Crayons Quit Summary

Duncan’s crayons have had enough. They have quit. When Duncan opens his box of crayons, it is empty except for a pile of letters. Each letter describes the crayons’ frustrations and their treatment by Duncan.

Each crayon expresses its grievances, describing how Duncan uses them (or doesn’t), the problem with his behaviour, along with possible solutions.

Red, blue and grey feel overworked, peach is naked, pink feels under-appreciated, purple wants to do other things and black feels misunderstood. Green, who has no personal complaints, pleads with Duncan on behalf of fighting yellow and orange. They are fighting over who is the proper colour of the sun. The crayons all hope Duncan will take on board their suggestions for change.

Duncan considers all their perspectives and creates an illustration using the crayons in a way that takes their feelings into consideration to persuade his crayons to come home.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books (2014)
ISBN: 9780007513765

Crayons Picture Books Official Website

Take a look inside

Book Series

The Day the Crayons Quit (1), The Day the Crayons Came Home (2)

Related Books

The Day The Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt
The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.
Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
The True Story of the Three Little Pig by Jon Scieszka
Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett

The Day the Crayons Quit Activities & Resources

I have created literacy graphic organizers for The Day the Crayons Quit. You can find them at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. There are many activities for each literacy area to differentiate depending on your student’s ability/age. They include activities for:

Author’s Purpose
Cause & Effect
Character Traits and Analysis
Inferring and Predicting
Main Idea and Theme
Making Connections
Point of View
Problem and Solution
Retelling, Sequencing and Summarizing

*Click on these links to discover book recommendations on these topics.

The Day the Crayons Quit Activities & Links

CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals: Visual Literacy notes
Crayons Picture Books: Educator’s Guide and Activities
Crayons Picture Books: Vote for Your Favourite Crayon
Penguin: Educator's Guide
Prindle Institute for Ethics: Guidelines for Philosophical Discussion
Reading is Fundamental: Guide for Educators

FREE The Day the Crayons Quit Activities

Would you like free graphic organisers for The Day the Crayons Quit?

I have a freebie that is part of a larger resource so you can try it out before buying anything!

Fill in the form below to get access to the FREE pack. Click on the image to see the full pack on Teachers Pay Teachers.

The Day the Crayons Quit Read-Aloud Questions

Read aloud sessions are a wonderful way for children to understand the connection between written text and spoken language. You can model reading habits and strategies, reading fluency, tone and eye contact. You can also introduce different genres, authors and illustrators.

What do you think Drew Daywalt wants us to learn from reading The Day the Crayons Quit?
What did you learn from reading The Day the Crayons Quit?
Describe the problem faced by Duncan and how he solved it.
How did the illustrations help you understand The Day the Crayons Quit?
How would you describe Duncan?
Why do you think the crayons wrote letters to Duncan?
How do Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers show the emotions of the crayons throughout the book?
How do Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers make it clear the character traits of each crayon?
Which crayon do you think gives the best reason for quitting?
Are there boys’ and girls’ colours? Explain your answer.
What did Duncan learn from reading the letters from his crayons?
Why did Duncan’s teacher give him a “good work” sticker for colouring and a gold star for creativity?
How did Duncan make all his crayons happy?
How do you think Duncan will treat all his crayons in the future?
Do you colour things the ‘proper’ colour? Why or why not?
Why do you sometimes choose to colour something in a different colour than it is in real life?
Why do some crayons use capital letters in their message to Duncan?
Do you think it was fair of the crayons to quit doing their job? Explain your answer.
What do the crayons think about the other colours?

You can find a full set of discussion cards in The Day the Crayons Quit Literacy Bundle or as a separate pack.

The Day the Crayons Quit Book Videos

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