Activity: Mixing Colors:

Vocabulary

primary colors, red, blue, yellow, secondary colors, orange, green, purple

For this activity, you will need:

a large container of vanilla yogurt or instant vanilla pudding mixed with milk.

food coloring.

divided plastic plates and spoons.

large piece of paper for each child. Butcher paper works well because the glazed finish makes the colors more brilliant.

a note to send to parents that the children will be painting with homemade paints made with food coloring. You may want to suggest that parents dress their children in older, washable clothes.

Directions
1. Seat the children at the table, and provide each child with a divided plastic plate and spoon.
2. Explain to the children that they will be mixing their own paints so that they can finger paint.
3. Place a spoonful of yogurt in each of the three sections of each child’s plate.
4. Place a drop of food coloring, red, yellow, and blue, in each of the three portions of yogurt.
5. Allow the children time to mix the food coloring with the yogurt. Be sure to provide a spoon for each color so the colors stay pure.
6. Ask the children to name the colors they created. Explain that these three colors are called “primary colors” because other colors may be made from them. "Primary" means first in time or original.
7. Ask each child to divide the colored yogurt on each half of the divided plate. Repeat this with all three colors.
8. Ask the children to take a spoonful of red yogurt and place it on one of the spoonfuls of yellow yogurt. What color did they make?
9. Ask the children to take a spoonful of red yogurt and place it on one of the spoonfuls of blue yogurt. What color did they make?
10. Ask the children to take a spoonful of yellow yogurt and place it on one of the spoonfuls of blue yogurt. What color did they make?
11. Explain to the children that these colors, orange, purple and green, are secondary colors because they were made “second.”
12. Encourage the children to paint with their new colors. Display the artwork.