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: