Does your child love painting? Want to teach them about mixing primary colors? How about letting them discover the new colors they can make? Check out the activity below that will take just 10-20 minutes.
Materials Needed:
- FREE Printable
- Red, Blue, and Yellow paint, optional paint colors: Black and White
- 3 paintbrushes (or one if you want to clean in between colors, if so, cup of water)
- Pencil
My three-year-old knows her colors pretty well, and she enjoys painting and choosing which colors we use for the day. During one of our painting activities, I wanted to let her have a hands-on experience with creating new colors.
I had the primary colors out: red, blue and yellow. I asked her if she wanted to make purple and then asked her which two colors we need to make purple. She guessed it correctly! I don’t know if she actually knew it or had a great guess. I didn’t answer her though, but instead, let her have the opportunity to discover if her guess was correct. I poured some red paint and some blue paint and then let her mix the two colors with a paintbrush. As she mixed the two paint colors, purple started to emerge. Her excitement was infectious and she was eager to try another one.
This time, I asked her what two colors she wanted to mix. She chose blue and yellow. I asked her what color she thought blue and yellow would make. Whether your child guesses correctly or not, don’t tell them the answer. Rather, let them discover the answer by mixing the two paint colors together. Blue and yellow make green, as she soon found out.
Next, we made orange by using red and yellow. I used one of these FREE Printables for each new color we made. This way, I can keep them and post them in our house as a visual reminder for my daughter. FREE printables
And then she asked if we could make pink. I again asked her what she thought would be needed to make pink. I was happy that she was interested in discovering beyond what I originally planned. If your child does the same, try to see if you can foster their curiosity. If you don’t have the materials on hand or ready to go, then save it for a later time and let them know you’ll try that out next time.
Hope you enjoy doing this activity with your little one!
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