Mouse Paint Colour Mixing

I love having lots of little activities that can be pulled together quickly. There are opportunities that arise during the day where you can do something to bring all the children together (like our Fruit Sensory Bin) or enjoy a little one on one time with them (like this activity).

From the early days we teach children colour recognition. We give them the freedom to mix colours here and there - but then what?

Today I want to share with you a lovely activity (and story) to build on knowledge of colours. 

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I brought Mouse Paint  UK/US based on several recommendations in my Learning and Exploring Through Play Group on Facebook. It was the first time I read the story. It is such a great book that explains colour mixing perfectly. The story is based around three little mice that find themselves jumping into paint and playing in the puddles of spilt paint. The puddles begin to transform and more colours are made.

It was the perfect book to start teaching about Primary Colours and Secondary Colours. 

To enjoy this activity you will need:

Food Colouring - UK/US

Conatiners

Pippettes - UK/US

Ice Cube Tray

Mouse Paint - UK/US

To begin this little topic I asked the question - 

If you wanted to paint a picture and you needed lots of different colours but you could only choose 3 paints. Which paints would you choose?

My daughters reply was red, purple and yellow. 

I plan to re-ask the question in a couple of weeks time after the activities I have planned to see if she has gained more understanding of how mixing of colours works. I am planning not to tell her the answer but to see if she can discover it herself. Children learning this way retain much more information, as their experimentation has led them to the conclusion which makes their learning meaningful.

We then sat and read Mouse Paint - UK/US together. She read the pages and although the text is basic the message was there and I was happy with how it was conveyed for younger children. Shortly after in the garden I set up this activity for her.

I used what I believe to be a Drinks Tray. Its similar to the K-mart trays that I would just love to get my hands on. I have even contacted K-Mart to see if they would ship some to me but sadly the answer was no not at this time. I managed to locate this on in Home Sense (UK). They are the perfect size to set up an activity for up to two children. I often use water/paint based medias inside and there has been no dis colourisation or rusting which is great!

I used a mixture of glass and plastic containers for the paint. I wanted to offer the Primary Colours (glass containers) and Secondary Colours (plastic containers).

Yes I could have just offered the Primary Colours but at this stage I want to ignite her curiosity with colour mixing. I wanted to see how she would react when she could use the green already made or if she could work out the colours needed to make green herself. Sometimes we are guilty of giving children the answers and not allowing them the freedom to explore and discover concepts in their own time. This is something I am being really mindful of within my practise.

Using the pipettes proved to be an interesting one. It was a skill she learnt quickly but after some trial and error. She kept pulling it out of the water before it has had chance to fill up. I didn't tell her what to do. I just told her to enjoy if she fancied it.

She began pumping up the vibrant colours and releasing them into the ice cube tray (use transparent or white trays). It didn't take her long actually before she started to mix colours herself. She was amazed at how quickly the colours changed when mixed. 

Once the tray had filled up she requested to do it again and again and again.

Each time a slightly different idea emerged. She went to colour mixing to colour mixing and pattern making! Insisting to do the activity over and over at the end of each full ice cube tray.

It was a sheer success. She had enjoyed exploring colour mixing and had created some colour patterns. But had she learnt anything?

I asked her if she knew which two colours went together to make a colour. She was able to recall them all. 

Over the next few weeks we shall be looking at more colour mixing activities and learning more about Primary and Secondary Colours. We shall be taking a look at colour wheels, painting, play dough and no doubt some spare of the moment activities that just come together as we go.

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