Art Activities to Explore a Rainbow of Colors
Happy Pride Month! Love and rainbows are all around this month, so I wanted to take a look back at some of my favorite art activities I’ve done with young children that explore mixing color. (I’ll be making another post this month featuring picture books that center love and acceptance, so keep an eye out for that in a week or two!)
Color mixing with water
Materials:
Water in primary colors (I used a few drops of liquid watercolor, but food coloring also works)
Small cups
Paint palette or spot plate (an ice cube tray also works great for this!)
Pipette/dropper
Practice mixing up secondary colors! I like to provide a color wheel with this one and challenge kids to mix up every shade.
Shaving cream painting
Materials:
Tray
Shaving cream
Liquid watercolor
Pipette/dropper
Use the pipette to drip colors onto the shaving cream, then use a paintbrush, popsicle stick, or even your fingers to swirl the colors around and mix them together! As an optional extension, you can lay a piece of paper on top of the shaving cream and pull it up to reveal a print.
Cardboard painting
Materials:
A cardboard box or sheet
Washable tempera paint (and cups and brushes)
I love repurposing cardboard boxes from packages, so I propped this one up like an A-frame sign and set it up as an outdoor painting invitation. This is about as simple as it gets!
Watercolors in water
Materials:
Tub filled partway with water
Liquid watercolor (in cups or palette)
Pipette/dropper
Watch colors swirl around each other as children drop watercolors into a tub of water. I was able to put the clear tub on top of a light table to make the colors super visible, but a light table is definitely not necessary.
Bubblewrap prints
Materials:
Bubblewrap
Tape
Paint in cups with brushes (I like to use washable tempera paint)
Paper
Tape pieces of bubblewrap onto the table or floor, then delight in painting on it with a rainbow of colors! Press paper over painted bubblewrap to make a print. I love that this activity still works if the bubblewrap has been popped.
Bleeding tissue paper
Materials:
Bleeding tissue paper (I prefer to get precut squares or triangles to reduce the amount of prep)
Large surface such as canvas or foamboard
Spray bottles
Arrange different colored shapes of tissue paper, then spray with water to watch the colors spread and mix. For an end result that has less standing water, you can also use a paintbrush to brush water onto the tissue paper.
Spin art
Materials:
Salad spinner
Paper
Primary colors of watered-down tempera paint with pipettes
Experiment with ratios of tempera paint and water until the paint consistency can easily be drawn into the pipette. Place a piece of paper into the salad spinner, use the pipette to drip colors onto the paper, put the lid on, and spin! This activity is one that my students love to do over and over again as they experiment with different colors, amounts of paint, and placement.
There you have it- seven of my favorite color-mixing activities for rainbow joy this Pride Month! If you try any of them, please let me know how they go (feel free to tag me @paintandpicturebooks if you post it on Instagram). I hope you and your loved ones are doing well, and I’ll be sure to post about some more picture books before the month is over.
