home learning: color theory 101

Aug 08

Posted by: Rachel in: blog, caleb isaiah, crafty, homeschool ideas, homeschooling, memories, parenting, photography

You’ll need:

Donna Young’s Color Wheel (we used the circle one instead of the pie slice one)
Food Coloring
Ice cube trays
Several glasses, preferably clear or white
Heat (the sun, a microwave, etc)

Optional:
A teaspoon or syringe
crayons or markers

We have talked about mixing colors to make other colors. I even tried to show Caleb a little with some bathtub paints, but it was difficult to see the change, as the colors were muted and didn’t blend well. The other day, I got out some regular old food coloring. Not my Wilton gels, which Scott says I could open and blow the fumes at something to change the color. No just the good old food coloring dropper bottles. I put one drop per cube into an ice cube tray and stirred each color individually. Stick it in the freezer, unstacked if you have room. My best guess is that the bottom layer took longer to freeze, thus the color had more time to settle to the bottom some. The top batch appeared brighter because they froze quicker I presume.

Anyway, place red & blue, blue & yellow, and yellow & red ice cubes in three different containers. As they melt, you will be able to use the secondary color produced by mixing the two primary colors. If you’d like to take it a step further, you can mix one primary with a ‘neighboring’ secondary color to see what shade you get (this is where a teaspoon or syringe might be helpful for mixing even amounts) If you’d like, you can have some crayons or markers handy to fill in the color wheel as you go or try filling it in after the project (the colored water probably won’t be vivid enough to see on the paper). If you’re working with the younger age group, it may help to write the color on the chart with a corresponding marker first. You can even display the chart in your art area for reference!

After mixing the primary + secondary colors to see the different shades, we dumped the remainder of everything into the middle, which more or less made black (we didn’t measure)

Then I just sat back and watched.  He had a blast just dumping the water back and forth, so I think this is something we’ll revisit from time to time with various projects.

Footnote: I’m delighted to have found these little clear cups in the kitchen utensil section at Walmart.  They will really come in handy in the future.  They had yellow, red (mustard/ketsup dishes) and clear.  They are thick hard plastic, exactly what I’ve been looking for when we decorate car cakes.  You could use them for paints, candy dishes, sorting things, the list goes on…

Comments

2 Responses to “home learning: color theory 101”

    Dianna
    August 8th, 2008 6:05 pm

    Great idea with the ice cubes! I have got to say though, you definately have an incredible amount of patience! I don’t think I could do all the things you do.

    Val
    August 9th, 2008 8:33 pm

    Patience! For sure! After reading the first line and calling for food coloring…..you lost me there! We use just plain old finger paints “round here. Nice and easy.

    Good for you though crafty one!

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