Color Mixing fun with kids

Do you remember how fascinating it was to mix colors as a child? Finding out that yellow and blue make green is a profound discovery for a young mind, and an important one. But in order to learn color mixing, it’s important to be able to see it in action.

Fortunately, there are many color mixing experiments that kids can do at home. And they are very inexpensive. Here are some to try.

Mixing Colors “By Hand”

Young children love to finger paint. There’s just something about the feeling of wet paint on the hands that they can’t resist.

It’s easy to turn finger painting into a color mixing lesson. Try putting one color of paint on one of your child’s hands and another color on the other. Then have him rub them together three or four times. When he pulls his hands apart, a whole new color will be there.

Once your child has gotten accustomed to the idea of mixing colors, he might like to try to mix his own unique shades. Give him plenty of paper and paint in primary colors and let him work with minimal guidance. He’ll quickly realize what works and what produces dull blacks and browns.

Mixing Colors in Water

Another fun color mixing project involves mixing different colors of water. This can be accomplished with clear glasses or pitchers, water and food coloring. Start out by filling the containers about half full of water and adding a different color to each one. Then have your child mix the colors as he pleases, either pouring one color directly into another or mixing colors in a separate container. Show him how to add more food coloring to change the shade or make the color more intense.

Once he’s gotten the hang of it, try quizzing him on the colors. Provide a container of water in each of the primary colors, and ask him to make a specific color by mixing two of them. This will provide valuable lessons not only in color mixing, but also in trial and error.

Coloring Food

Kids who have been exposed to color mixing might like to try their hand at coloring some of the foods they eat. Vanilla pudding and white cake frosting are good mediums for color experiments. Kids can add a drop or two of different colors of food coloring and mix until they end up with their favorite colors. And when they’re done, they can eat their creations.

Mixing colors is lots of fun for kids, and it’s very educational. It can come in handy if they decide to pursue art later in life. And any child can benefit from the reasoning and memory skills taught by color mixing experiments.

JC Arts offers lots of fun art classes for kids. During the school year, we have free "Hands & Hearts 4 Art" classes on Saturdays at 1pm. Contact us for more information or check our calendar for times and dates.

---