Everyone wants to know why the White House is white. The answer has to do with the stone walls. When the White House was built 200 years ago, the builders made the walls from blocks of sandstone. Sandstone is not a very hard stone. Rain, snow and ice can leak into the stone and make it crack and crumble. The men who cut the big blocks of stone were called masons. The masons painted the walls with whitewash. Whitewash is like a thin white paint. When the walls were covered with the whitewash, rain and snow could not get into the stone. By painting the walls, the masons helped make the walls last a long time.

Twenty years ago, all the paint on the White House was taken off. So many coats of paint had been brushed on the White House in 200 years that you could not see the decorations. After the stone was cleaned and repaired, it was painted white again. If you had a chance to repaint the White House, would you paint it white? Or would you paint it red? Yellow? Pink?


Click here, then print out the White House picture. Then use color markers or crayons and paint the White House any color you like!