Mixing Colours

Finn wanted to paint with sponges and small rollers today (you can buy in packets from most places that sell art & craft supplies). 

I started off by only giving him blue paint, then after a few minutes I washed his brush and roller, and gave him a container of yellow paint.  As he was applying the yellow paint, we talked about how when the yellow paint meets up with the blue paint- it creates green. 

Watery ink paints (watercolours or water mixed with food colouring) are the best for demonstrating this. There are many poems about colour mixing you can share with children. 

Here is one example:  

Paints 

by Ilo Orleans

When I put YELLOW

Paint on RED,

The colors change

To ORANGE instead.

And, mixing BLUE

And RED, I get

A pretty shade

of VIOLET.

Another trick

That I have seen:

YELLOW and BLUE

Turn into GREEN.

There's magic when

My colors mix. 

It's fun to watch them

doing tricks.

Finger Painting

Finger Paint Recipe:  

in a saucepan mix 1/2 cup cornflour with 

1/2 cup of cold water

Add 1 cup of boiling water.

Bring to the boil on stove

Remove from heat when thick and clear. You can add a few drops of food dye to this mixture, or give your child the opportunity to add the colours in themselves.

Finger painting is a soothing and has creative benefits for children, although it doesn't offer as much opportunity for detail as using a paint brush. 

Finn has been getting fussy about getting his hands dirty, so I wanted to encourage a bit of messy play with him. 

I did this on a large kitchen bench, but you could do it on a tabletop covered with plastic, or use a 'messy mat' on the floor.  

You can also easily make prints by laying a large sheet of paper over the top of the finished design and with clean dry hands rub over the back of the paper. Slowly lift paper of the table and hang to dry. 

Printmaking is a satisfying activity for children- they can produce multiple reproductions with out too much effort. Print making is a magical experience for them. 

I used edicol dye powder mixed with a little water- Finn added it to the clear finger paint with a spoon.

 I encouraged him to explore what his little fingers could do with the paint.

warm and cool

Today we experimented with warm and cool colours. 

Warm colors are based on yellows, oranges, browns and reds

Cool colors are based on blues, greens, and purples. 

We talked about how certain colours make you feel, and how they are used to describe things. E.g. Red is a hot colour, found in fire, the sun, fire engines or can describe someone feeling angry.

Blue is a cool colour, like the ocean, and can make you feel calm, or used to describe someone who is sad. 

We looked around and found warm and cool colours around the house and garden. Here are some of his paintings using the different colour palettes. 

Cool Colours 

Warm Colours