Posted on by Nicole French

Bath time is not an easy task in our household. But I have found a good incentive to get a tired and grumpy child into the bath – colour mixing. A small pack of primary coloured food dyes and some plastic cups is all you need. For extra fun add in some ice trays, funnels and spoons to pour and scoop the colours.

 

Colour mixing sparks curiosity. Ask questions to get your child thinking – what do you think will happen if we mix red and blue together? How many different colours can we make? What happens to colours when we add white? Take the opportunity to teach them about primary and secondary colours, show them a colour wheel and see if they can make some of the different shades. This encourages children to think critically and discover for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

You can mix colours using all sorts of different mediums eg paint, water paints, paint sticks, water colour pencils or food dyes. My daughter loves mixing food colour dyes in the bath using plastic cups and water to experiment and create new colours. She loves getting messy with finger painting and mixing colours on a table top to create new shades and hues. In the bath she combines paint stick colours to make new colours.

 

 So grab some paper cups, ice cream lids or paper plates to use as a paint tray and mix the colour with popsticks, sticks, a spoon or paintbrush. Its not expensive, but it can be messy so be prepared to go outside, or in the bath where you can wash the mess away.

Let your kids be kids and allow them to have fun with the process of colour mixing and experimenting with colour. Colour mixing is like magic – help them discover the awe and wonder of colours.

We have rainbow lab kits in store and online at kids unite, and lots of paint sticks, finger paint and colour blending textas. Check out our previous blog posts about making marks for more products.