• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Start Here
  • Homeschooling
  • Shop
  • Member Log In
  • Cart

Gift of Curiosity

Sparking children's creativity and learning

  • Holidays
  • Seasons
  • Subject Areas
  • Themes
  • Age
Home
  • Blog
    • Holidays
    • Seasons
    • Subject Areas
    • Themes
    • Age
  • Start Here
  • Homeschool
  • Shop
  • Member Log In
  • Cart

Fun with color mixing

1 Comment Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade

Sharing is caring - thank you for spreading the word!

20.0K shares
  • Share51
  • Twitter
  • Email

This post may contain affiliate ads at no cost to you. See my disclosures for more information.

Over time, I’ve done a few color mixing activities to help my children learn about the primary colors and how they combine to form secondary colors.

We previously did a simple color theory activity using liquid watercolors as well as a slightly more advanced color mixing activity using liquid watercolors. We also did a fun color mixing activity using paint in plastic bottles several years ago.

But on this occasion we used tempera paints to do a color mixing activity inspired by the book Mix It Up by Herve Tullet.

This post is part of the 28 Days of STEAM Blog Hop, where you can find hands-on science, technology, engineering, art, and math projects for kids. 

Fun with color mixing | primary and secondary colors | Mix It Up | book-inspired activities | color science || Gift of Curiosity

The book Mix It Up is short, fun, and quirky. It covers both what happens when you mix the primary colors together and what happens when you add white or black paint to another color.

Although the book uses the terms red, yellow, and blue, we decided to use the proper names of the primary colors, which are magenta (red), yellow, and cyan (blue).

I started by squeezing a small amount of magenta, yellow, and cyan tempera paint onto paper plates. Although the book encourages kids to use their fingers to mix colors, my kids didn’t want to do that. So instead I provided them with Q-tips that they could use to mix their colors.

We had fun going page by page through the book and copying what was happening in the story.

We started by mixing yellow and cyan to make green.

Then we mixed magenta and cyan to make purple.

I set the book out so my kids could follow along as they worked. (And I provided a bowl for them to dump their used Q-tips.)

When the book showed magenta and cyan stripes mixing together to form purple, we made magenta and cyan stripes and dragged our Q-tips across them to blend the colors.

When the book showed what happens when you add white paint, we mixed white paint with the other colors.

My kids noticed how the colors got much lighter.

And when we added black, the colors got much darker.

At the end, the kids decided to go crazy and mix all their colors together.

We had expected the colors to mix into a muddy brown, but to our surprise the end result was actually quite pretty!

28 Days of STEAM Blog Hop

More resources for teaching colors

More color posts from Gift of Curiosity:

  • Color theory activity
  • Color mixing science
  • No-mess color mixing fun
  • Color mixing rainbow challenge

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

Filed Under: Preschool, Colors, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Science, STEAM

You May Also Enjoy These Posts

Color matching activity with household objectsSensory play: Invitation to make play doh creations11 snowman crafts to make this winter

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hey there, I’m Katie

I help parents who are transitioning into homeschooling shed old mindsets and embrace their homeschooling superpowers so they can create a homeschool they love where their children will thrive.

Learn more about me and what I do HERE.

Hands-On

Get 10 ideas for easy, hands-on activities you can do with your kids TODAY to make learning more fun.

Check out these related products in the shop!

Toddler Skills Pack Bundle

Preschool Math Pack Bundle

Printables Pack Bundle

Measurement Activity Packs Bundle

Volcano Printables Bundle

Shop All Resources

  • Contact
  • About Me

Copyright © 2022 Gift of Curiosity  •  All Rights Reserved  •  Privacy  •  Terms of Use  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs

Posting....