A conventional way to allow youngsters to experiment with color mixing is with paints. For a tactile activity, pull out red, yellow and blue finger paints for kids to mix while they spread it around specially treated finger paint paper. However, the pigments in some finger paints do not mix together very well and may result in a distorted perspective in how color mixing works. For teachers who cannot find finger paints that mix well, consider using washable tempera paints mixed with sponge brushes instead. Be sure to give each child their own three-sectioned plate of red, yellow and blue tempera paints to mix with, as colors will become contaminated with one another as the kindergartners experiment.
A five-year-old's fascination with pouring water provides another opportunity for a color mixing activity. Provide each kindergartner with three small, lidded pitchers or teapots of water that has been dyed with food coloring--one yellow, one red and one blue. Also give each child several disposable cups or wax-coated paper plates. Explain the concept of mixing the three primary colors to create new colors, then allow the students to experiment by pouring the colored water together to create new hues. A similar activity can be undertaken using red, yellow and blue juices or drinks during snack time. Allow the students to pick two of the three primary-colored drinks to mix in their glass, concocting an orange, green or purple drink.
Mixing frosting for cookies provides another opportunity to combine color activities with snack time. Provide each kindergartner with three small sugar cookies or vanilla wafers on a sheet of wax paper. Also give each student a plastic spoon and three small dishes of frosting, one yellow, one red and one blue. Instruct the kindergartners to frost one cookie with orange frosting, one with green frosting and one with violet frosting by mixing the new colors on their wax paper with their spoons. Once each child has frosted their cookies with the appropriate hues, let them eat their work.
Following a recipe to make play dough can be incorporated into lessons in both science and math. Dyeing the dough with red, yellow and blue food coloring allows the lesson to transition into a color mixing activity. Teach kindergartners the concept of ratios by instructing them to combine two dough balls of equal sizes together to create a new color. Expand the lesson into an exercise reinforcing the appropriate color names by having the children use the primary- and secondary-colored dough to mold fruits, including orange pumpkins, purple grapes, green limes, red apples, yellow bananas and blue blueberries.