painting fun with MIXING COLORS

Mixing colors is something I love to do with M & M.  There is something almost magical about watching two colors become one.  I have done this activity in so many ways, but I think this is my favorite.

P.S. We had an extra artist for the day.  M & Ms cousin T was with us, and she was so much fun to paint with!

What you need:  Egg carton ~ construction paper ~ tempera paint ~ paint brushs

To prep for this activity; save an egg carton, cut the lid off, and then cut straight down the middle.  This will leave you with a 2 sets of six perfect little paint cups!  You’ll need one set for each child.  On the construction paper make 6-8 painting spots.  To make the creased lines on our construction paper, I simply folded the paper in half again and again (creasing the edges as I went) until I had 8 spaces.  You can also draw six circles or break out the ruler and make 6 even spaces.  All that’s left is to prep your little one’s painting area. . . and your little one!  Set out the paper, the egg carton, the paint brushs and a small cup of water for rinsing the paintbrush (unless you don’t mind running back and forth to the sink).

This is one project you’ll need to direct and supervise closely.  I rarely direct Little M, usually her creative wheels start turning as soon as she sees which tools I have set up for her.  For this one, I told her she could create whatever she wanted as long as she stayed inside the space that matched the color she was using.  Following directions is also an important skill to learn (I repeated that in my head over and over for the entire activity!)

Okay, now for the fun part!  With a sharpie or black marker write the word Red in one space.  Squeeze a small amount of red paint (about the size of a quarter) in the first cup.

Do the same thing with yellow and blue.  For orange add equal parts red, and yellow. Let your kids do the mixing!  For green add equal parts blue and yellow.  For purple add equal parts blue and red.  Since we had 2 spaces left over I had M, M & T decide what do for those.  They choose brown and pink.  (red+blue+yellow= brown and red+white=pink)

The thing that was really cool about this activity, was even though I was directing there was still room for creativity.  Each of their end products were so individual.

Cars, cars and more cars.  Big M’s favorite thing.

T painted, studied her work, and then decide what she was making.  She then went back and added other colors to complete her vision.  My favorite was the brown turtle with green spots!

Little M.  Well she followed directions for almost the entire activity!  Her picture was evenly divided. . . and then I went to help big M wash his hands.  Of course it wouldn’t be her masterpiece if she didn’t use every last drip of paint.  (and remember, she already learned about mixing colors. . .who cares if the rest of us saw it?)

Questions (to ask your kids): “What do you think will happen when we mix red and blue?”  *Use the names of the colors A LOT when you are doing this activity.

Tips (to maximize learning):  1. When you write out the name of the color try to have your kids figure out what the word says before you tell them.  Sound out a letter or two.  It’s always great to add a little pre reading!  2. Pay attention when your kids are creating, you may be inspired to create another learning experience.  (I love the texture in Little M’s blob, you’ll probably see that again soon!)

Did you catch Color Bingo?  Stay tuned for more color activities and a color book review.