A colour wheel is a great visual way to learn about primary and secondary colours and fun science crafts.
Mixing Colours
RED + YELLOW = ORANGE
YELLOW + BLUE = GREEN
BLUE + RED = PURPLE
How to make a DIY colour wheel
What you need
Two pieces of cardboard
One split pin
Coloured pens
Or, use my handy colour mixing template.
Instructions
Cut out two circles of white cardboard, one slightly bigger than the other.
Carefully cut a window into the smaller circle.
Place the smaller wheel on top of the larger one and push a split pin through the centre.
Using the correct colour pens, draw the colours like the image below.
Spin the wheel to find out which primary colours make secondary colours.
Colour mixing extension tasks
Try mixing paint to check your wheel is correct.
Can you add a third layer to show further colour mixes?
More colour theory activity ideas
We had lots of fun with our colour mixing water wall.
Try some colour mixing with Jelly.
Experiment to discover how many different colours you can make with coloured water. Start with the three prime colours and work from there.
Link to a book
This activity fits perfectly with the colourful books created by Erin Stoll Walsh.
Ellen Stoll Walsh – Mouse Paint, Mouse Count
Mouse Paint is a sweet and playful story about three mice. It is perfect for introducing colour theory to young readers. The three white mice discover three paint pots on the white paper where they live. They dive into the paint to colour themselves, then splash in paint puddles and discover that primary colours, when combined, make different colours. The mice then wash themselves clean (in the cat’s water bowl) and paint the paper with all the colours they’ve made, apart from a section of white where they can hide from the cat.
Last Updated on September 4, 2024 by Emma Vanstone
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