September 19, 2010

Color Experiments

I asked my students what the primary colors are at the beginning of the year and most had no idea! What happens to their little brains during the summer I'll never know. But, I had to review with all the grades in the most basic ways!

First we identified the primary colors and stuck them on my velcro color wheel.
You can get these cute color circles at STAPLES. I added velcro to the back to make them interactive.
Next, we mixed the primary colors to make secondary colors in clear cups. We made predictions about what we thought might happen when we mixed the two colors. Then a student tested our predictions by pouring them together. The kids liked the scientific way of experimenting with color.

We displayed the beautiful colors we made in the window. I put each in ziplock baggies and we stuck them to the window.
The circle in the center says "We are learning how to mix colors."
Finally, students recorded their findings.

I was so happy to have every kid shout out "primary" when I held up the red circle and "secondary" when I held up a purple circle. They got a kick out of this "game." Especially when we played it really fast! I couldn't stump them. On to some real art projects!

6 comments:

Becca Ruth said...

I love this!! Wish I had it last week though... Thank you!

Becca Ruth said...

Did you just pour them to mix the colors? Or did you use droppers or something?

Unknown said...

I put clear plastic cups on the little shelf of the easel with the little kids. One filled with red, one yellow, one blue. Then I had volunteers test our predictions by coming to the easel and carefully pouring the primary colors together. This really kept their attention because they all wanted to be the pourer.

Unknown said...

Eyedroppers would be fun though:) If you have them!

Becca Ruth said...

I knew I would use this. I needed a quick color theory lesson for 3rd grade and they were a day behind. This worked great and all the kids painted their color wheels and mixed all secondaries correctly! Thank you!

Unknown said...

Awesome! Glad you could use it!