Color mixing is a fun and educational activity for children.
I love to play around with color mixing while using paint, and what child doesn’t love paint!?
Generally, I begin by introducing the children to the primary colors: Red, blue, and yellow.
I give them each a small plate and let them squeeze out some red, blue, and yellow paint.
We talk about each color and name items around the room that are the same color.
Next, I tell them to mix the colors.
They mix blue & yellow; blue & red; red & yellow; blue & yellow.
After the squeals of excitement over the new colors now created has subsided, we talk about each of these colors and once again compare objects around the room to them.
After this, I like to have them add a squirt of black and a squirt of white to their plate.
We then experiment with lightening and darkening each color created earlier, as well as mixing them with the primary colors.
Once we’ve finished with all these mixings, I give them all paper and allow them to paint to their heart’s content.
The pride on their faces as they continue mixing and creating colors is priceless.
Even the children that end up with just big papers full of black after all of the mixing are ecstatic.
Doing this project with the children is fun for all of us!!!
The children often don’t even realize that they’re learning, while they’re creating colors and art.
Most of the time, they don’t have any idea that they are using scientific thinking to observe, predict and compare.
While experimenting with cause and effect they are using problem-solving skills and coming up with ideas for what to do when the colors they were mixing didn’t quite turn out the way they had thought they would.
The children are also using fine motor skills like squeezing, stirring, and mixing, and working on controlling those skills.
The descriptive language and creative thinking skills that come along as we are experimenting with mixing colors help their cognitive abilities grow, and they don’t even have a clue. They’re just having fun and doing what comes naturally–LEARNING IS A WAY OF LIFE!!
As with almost every art activity that I do, I like to include books!
Here are my favorite books to go along with color mixing
If you’ve enjoyed this post, I encourage you to check out my earlier blog post on fingerpainting:
https://learningisawayoflife.com/fingerpainting/
Super great idea! When I was a camp counselor most of the kids’ favorite activities were anything that involved painting. This can be a great way to keep children entertained!