One of the most exciting activities in my art classes is witnessing a child mix colors for the first time. The sheer delight on their faces is truly magical. It’s as if they are in disbelief when two colors blend together and transform into a perfect secondary color before their eyes. My students love to immerse themselves in various mixing combinations of primary colors. This activity is wonderfully straightforward, and you don’t need to be an advanced art teacher to introduce this concept to children—all you require are quality paints in red, yellow, and blue! Let me give you some practical advise.
Why Teach Mixing Primary Colors?
If you want to teach children how to paint, they will need to learn how to achieve the colors they need when those colors are not available in their palette. And when learning how to create realistic images you need to know how to control color values by mixing primary colors together. Artists also tint and shade by understanding basic primary and secondary mixing ideas. To create color pop in designs you need to understand warm, cool, and complementary color ideas as well. This study is called color theory. This is an important domain artist should study.
Mixing Colors Are Simple
I have found that children can swiftly grasp the skill of mixing primary colors in with just one lesson. These lessons are not hard to teach, and easy to set up. Children love mixing up paint! With a few pointers on materials and set-up you can teach basic color theory. Below are my teaching resources I recommend.
Types of Paint
You can use almost any type of paint, but I recommend using either watercolor or acrylic paint. Watercolor is ideal for kids to learn color theory. I talk more about this in most of my art teaching books. Bu basically, start by keeping it simple with just two colors per lesson. Begin by demonstrating how to mix two primary can mix and create a whole new color.
Allow children plenty of time to experiment with these color combinations. Here are three lessons you can start with. If you are interested in learning more about teaching color theory, check out my books and curriculum below.
Primary to Secondary Lessons:
- Blue + Yellow = Green
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Blue = Violet Purple
These fundamental color-mixing skills can be taught to both young and older children. Offering a versatile foundation for a variety of painting projects.
Color Theory Books & Curriculum
- Kids Color Theory Book
- Kids Color Theory Curriculum
- Early Childhood – Art Guide
- Elementary – Art Guide
- Kids Painting Curriculum
- Kids Painting Art Album – Best for elementary grades
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