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Color theory activity for preschoolers

May 2, 2014 by Katie 5 Comments

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My kids and I had a lot of fun doing this basic color theory activity recently. Before starting the activity, I was unsure how they would react. Although I personally had never discussed with them how primary colors combine to create secondary color, I was wondering whether they might have picked up some of this information along the way from other teachers or books. It turned out that color mixing and color theory was completely new to them though. This made the activity really fun for us all since they were so amazed with the results.

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

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors #giftofcuriosity #handsonlearning #preschool #kindergarten || Gift of Curiosity

To do this activity, I prepared the following:

  • 6 white cups
  • Red, yellow, and blue liquid watercolors (we purchased ours from Discount School Supply, but you can also find them on Amazon)
  • Plastic pipettes

I placed the six cups in a circle. Going around the circle, I filled one cup with red liquid watercolor, one cup with yellow liquid watercolor, and one cup with blue liquid watercolor. Note that red, yellow, and blue are called “primary” colors. In between each of the three cups with primary colors, I left a blank cup.

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

When the kids came to the table, I told them we were going to mix the colors together. I asked them to predict what color we would make if we mixed the red and yellow together.

After they made their predictions, I then gave them a plastic pipette to drip some red into the empty cup.

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

Then they added yellow to the same cup, and were surprised to find that they had made orange! We had our first “secondary” color – a secondary color being one that is created by mixing two primary colors.

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

Next, they mixed yellow and blue to make green. What a surprise!

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

Then, they mixed red and blue to make purple. Oohs and aahs all around. 🙂

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

In the end, we had made a whole rainbow of colors just by using the three primary colors of red, yellow, and blue!

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

The kids were really curious what would happen if they were to mix all six colors together. So I grabbed another container to let them try it out. We learned that mixing all these colors together makes brown!

Color theory activity: A simple activity to help preschoolers understand how the primary colors combine to create secondary colors || Gift of Curiosity

Very simple, but also a very fun introduction to color theory for my two preschoolers.

More resources for teaching colors

More posts about colors from Gift of Curiosity:

  • Teaching colors through play
  • Rainbow do-a-dot printable
  • Color matching with household objects
  • No mess color mixing fun
  • Ideas for teaching colors
  • Color mixing rainbow challenge
  • Color mixing science

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

Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Learning Colors on Pinterest.

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5 Comments

Comments

  1. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

    May 2, 2014 at 3:21 am

    This is a fun, hands-on way to learn about colors! Good idea!

    Reply
  2. Carrie says

    May 9, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    What fun!! We have been playing with colors as well lately. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

    Reply
  3. susen says

    May 10, 2014 at 4:27 am

    Excellent explanation written in an easy way to understand/explain for kids! My daughter is almost 4 and we just recently did a food coloring and water experiment with her blender. I didn’t get into much detail with her but your explanation is perfect, thanks for a great post!

    Reply
  4. Jill says

    May 11, 2014 at 7:31 pm

    This is terrific! I love how hands on it is and you explained it very well!

    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

    Reply
  5. Ticia says

    May 18, 2014 at 5:38 am

    I don’t think I’ve ever sat my kids down to see if they know color theory either, but they sure would love this activity (sorry I’m so late commenting, got behind).

    Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday!

    Reply

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