The artwork of an average child includes a rainbow of colors. Reaching for a bottle of purple, orange or green paint is a natural response for most people. Color wheel activities teach children how the primary colors combine to create these secondary colors, as well as the tertiary colors. Color mixing encompasses the fields of art and science, creating the potential for both creative and educational activities.
Paint Mixing
Provide each child with paint in the three primary colors. Display a color wheel, identifying these three colors on the chart. Guide the participants through a color-mixing activity to create the three secondary colors, which are purple, green and orange. Continue mixing the paint to achieve the six tertiary colors. This includes yellow-green, yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple and blue-green. Create a homemade color wheel using the mixed paints, referring to the displayed color wheel for guidance. For younger children, create a color wheel template and have them fill in each section with the corresponding color of paint. Label each section with its color name after the paint dries.
Edible Art
Recreate the color wheel in an edible art form. Provide each participant or small group with 12 round sugar cookies and a bowl of white icing. Divide the icing into three smaller bowls. Add food coloring to the icing to create the three primary colors. Ice three cookies, one in each of the primary colors. Arrange the iced cookies on a plate in a triangle pattern. In three new bowls, combine equal parts of the primary colors to create orange, green and purple icing. Reserve some of the primary colored icing to create the tertiary colors. Use the secondary colored frosting to ice three more sugar cookies. Arrange the secondary color cookies in a triangle, placing each cookie between the two primary colors that create it. Continue mixing the icing to create the tertiary colors. Ice six other cookies with these colors. Arrange these cookies between the previously iced ones that combine to create the tertiary colors.
Trivia
Create a series of trivia questions based on the color wheel. Ideas for questions may include the result of mixing two particular colors or locations of specific colors. Break the participants into small groups for the challenge. Display a model of the color wheel for reference.
