This month my 4 year was learning how to mix colors. We used books and Colors Worksheets Preschool (Learn to spell 11 Colors) Color Mixing Activities from Teachers Pay Teachers. First I taught her the primary colors; red, yellow, and blue. Then we read the books over and over and she learned how to mix red and yellow to make orange, yellow and blue to make green, and blue and red to make purple.
First we drew a monster outline on a large piece of paper and placed the paper inside a cookie tray. Then we dropped some red and blue paint on the paper and added a few marbles to the cookie tray. She moved the tray back and forth to have the marbles move through the paint and mix the colors. We did another monster with red and yellow paint drops and a third one with blue and yellow paint.
Finally she wanted to do one with all three primary colors of paint.
After the paint dried we cut out black paper to look like mouths and eye brows. We also added googly eyes to the monster.
She loved this book and asked to read it every night for a while.
The Dot
We read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and she make several paintings with all sizes and colors of dots on her easel. She even experimented with mixing paint colors to make new colors of dots.
Painting on her easel is one of her favorite activities.
Today we read Color Dance by Ann Jonas and then tried to mix white with each color and black with each color.
We made 3 circles of each color and then added white paint to each color on the column on the left and added black paint to each color on the column on the right.
Mixing Colored Ice Cubes
I froze red, blue, and yellow water. Then she placed the ice cubes in the jars to mix the colors.
red ice cubes in the first jar
red and yellow in the second jar
yellow in the third jar
yellow and blue in the fourth jar
blue in the fith
and blue with red in the last jar.
Painting with Primary Colored Ice Cubes
I also let her paint with the ice tubes. She could make a rainbow by mixing the primary colors.
You might find some more good ideas for learning toddler colors here:
Storm cut out the strawberry shapes. She told me the name of each shape as she glued it to the Strawberry Patch. The shapes included circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, diamond, star, heart, crescent.
Flower Colors Cut & Glue
She cut out the flower colors. She told me the name of each color as she glued it to the Flower Garden. The colors included red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, white, gray.
The Valentine’s Day Preschool Pack also included many other cut and glue pages that she enjoyed.
Here are a few of the coloring pages from the Valentine’s Day Preschool Pack. These covered shapes, colors, and numbers. There are also some Bible Verse pages too.
Valentine Volcano
This was one of her favorite activities today. We made the volcano in a clear glass heart dish and added glitter. After we made the volcano she played with it for a long time. We got this Valentine Volcano from the Valentine’s Day Preschool Pack too.
Trace & Color Pages
Here are a few of the tracing pages from the Valentine’s Day Preschool Pack. These pages covered the shapes and the numbers.
First we read the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel and looked at some of Henri Rousseau’s jungle pieces. We noticed that he painted a variety of animals and very large jungle leaves.
Next I had the kids watercolor green background: We talked about how Henri Rousseau used many different shades of green. Show kids how to use just a bit of water so the paper doesn’t take too long to dry. Show them how to mix green with yellow, blue, white, black, and brown to make different shades of green.
Next we found some tutorials for kids to draw animals:
Draw your animals and then paint or use colored pencils to color them. After it dries, use a black sharpie to outline them and the cut them out carefully.
I found some tropical leaf outlines to enlarge and print on cardstock to use as tracing templates. Teach the kids how to trace the leaves on the edge of the paper so not to waste paper. Cut out the leaves and then use sharpie to outline and add veins.
Glue the animal and leaves to the green watercolor background.
Crumple little pieces of brightly tissue paper as the flowers and fruit. Glue them to the jungle scene.
These girls love to paint (and do anything messy); play dough, bubbles, pain, baking, anything! So I decided to paint the back shed wall and let them have some fun while I took pictures of them.
She is 3 and a half now, and is getting so animated. She loves dancing and singing all day long. I found this child’s artist hat on Amazon.
She enjoys spending time with her niece, and asks me every morning if she is coming over.
We splattered paint on the back wall of the shed and then put down an old white sheet and splattered paint there too. Then we brought out their easel and paint and brushes. They loved that they were allowed to get as messy as they wanted today.
If you are wearing red, Shake your head, If you are wearing red, Shake your head, If you are wearing red, Then please shake your head. If you are wearing red, shake your head.
Blue, touch your shoe Black, pat your back Green, bow like a queen Yellow, Shake like Jell-O Brown, Turn around Pink, give us a wink
Sort colored pom-pom balls into the corresponding colored bowls or in this case I used paint lids.
High-Five Colors: Make hand prints out of felt and have the child give a high five to the color you call out.
Bear Puzzle- I had this wooden bear puzzle that I found at a famer’s market years ago. It has all the colors that we have learned and T is starting to get better at puzzles.
Sort Colored scoops of ice cream onto the correct cones.
Color Wheel Clothespins- Laminate a color wheel and paint one color onto each clothes pin. Let the child attach the colored clothespins to the corresponding color on the color wheel. I have also created one of these Color Spinning Wheels and included it in my Teachers Pay Teachers Colors Worksheets Preschool (Learn to spell 11 Colors) Color Mixing Activities.
Mouse in the Color House- Hide the mouse behind the house and let the child find it.
Three gray mice, Three gray mice, Oh, how nice, Oh, how nice. They ran around the house at night. They found some cheese and had a bite. The farmer’s wife turned on the light. As three gray mice, Ran from sight! –Jean Warren
Color Recognition: Show the child 3 cars or toys (be sure one is gray). Have the child point to the gray car.
Three brown bears, three brown bears. See all their beds, see all their chairs. The mommy cooked in a big brown pot. The daddy’s porridge was much too hot. The baby bear always cried a lot. Three brown bears. –Judith E. McNitt
Color Recognition: Show the child 3 cars or toys (be sure one is brown). Have the child point to the brown car.
