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Color mixing with colored ice cubes

4 Comments Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade

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I have always loved bright colors. Reds, corals, yellows, purples. . . bright colors cheer me up!

Maybe that is why I have always loved color mixing activities so much. The opportunity to play with beautiful, bright colors and mix them to create new colors still gives me such delight even as a grown up.

This activity involves color mixing with colored ice cubes. The activity needs to be done over two days so you have time to freeze the ice cubes, but all in all the activity is fairly simple and is a wonderful way to illustrate how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make orange, green, and purple.

Note: For more activities that teach colors, see my Teaching Colors to Kids page. 

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

For this color mixing with colored ice cubes activity, you will need the following materials:

  • 9 paper cups
  • Optional: Tray to hold the 9 paper cups
  • Water
  • Cup to hold the water
  • 4 small, clear or white containers
  • Magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow liquid watercolor paints
  • Optional: Paper and markers to label your colors
 

The first step was to put nine cups into our tray and fill them about half way with water.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

Next, we added a few drops each of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow liquid watercolors to the cups to make three ice cubes of each color.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

Once our cups were ready, we placed them into the freezer overnight.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

The next day we took the cups out of the freezer and peeled the paper off the colored ice cubes.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

We put the colored ice cubes into four small plastic containers.

 

Here are the color combinations we put into each container:

  • 1 magenta (red), 1 cyan (blue), and 1 yellow
  • 1 magenta (red) and 1 cyan (blue)
  • 1 cyan (blue) and 1 yellow
  • 1 magenta (red) and 1 yellow
Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

Then we set the containers out to allow the ice to melt.

In the meantime, I asked my daughter to make a guess about what color would result from each of the color combinations, and I wrote her guesses down on sticky notes.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

We continued to check on our colored ice a few times over the next hour or so as the ice melted. We could see that the colors were starting to mix a bit inside the containers.

(Ignore the leftmost sticky note – her guess about the color that would result from mixing the three primary colors together changed a couple of times between when we first started and when we finished.)

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

We ended up giving the containers a small shake to help the colors mix together more quickly. After giving the containers a gentle shake, the new color emerged quite clearly.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

Since there was still colored ice that had not yet melted, it was easy for my daughter to see that the cyan (blue) and yellow ice made green, for example.

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

More resources for teaching colors

More color mixing posts from Gift of Curiosity:

  • Fun with color mixing
  • Color mixing science with liquid watercolors
  • Color theory for preschoolers
  • Color mixing rainbow challenge
  • No mess color mixing fun
  • Make your own markers: A practical lesson in color mixing

For more activities that teach colors, see my Teaching Colors to Kids page and my Learning Colors Pinterest board. 

Color mixing activity using colored ice cubes to show children how the three primary colors of magenta (red), cyan (blue), and yellow mix to make the three secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Great hands-on science for kids! Perfect for preschool or kindergarten lessons on colors and color mixing. #preschool #kindergarten #colors #colormixing #ece #handsonscience || Gift of Curiosity

Filed Under: Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten, Colors, 1st Grade, Science, STEAM

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Reader Interactions

4 Comments

  1. !Samia

    June 25, 2019 at 7:39 am

    Excellent activity!Thanks a lot for sharing! My kid will love it.

    Reply to this comment
  2. Priscilla Lamb

    September 23, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    Love this; thanks!

    Reply to this comment
  3. Melanie

    January 14, 2021 at 12:11 pm

    Can we use liquid food colouring for this activity?

    Reply to this comment
    • Katie

      January 14, 2021 at 2:15 pm

      I imagine that would work perfectly fine as well.

      Reply to this comment

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