3rd Grade Color Experiments

Third grade is a big year for color theory.  Every year it is a new adventure and this year I think we figured out a perfect way to experiment with color interactions or color mixing.  After really looks at and understanding what the color is and how it works - it was time to explore.  We used regular crayola markers on plain white paper.  We colored and filled our paper with all of our marks.  We thought about what colors we wanted to put next to each other and started to predict what would happen it they mixed.

Then, the magic begins... plain ol' clear and clean water and a paint brush is all you need for this trick.  When the marker is wet it turns into what looks like watercolor paint!  It moves and mixes, runs, and drips.  SO NEAT and needless to say AMAZING!

When our experiments were over we discussed what happened.  Did anything happen that we predicted, or did something happen that was unexpected.  Artists became scientists for a day in the art room.

Color Mixing Light Bulbs

Every year I look for a new way to teach color theory.  This year I looked around for inspiration... then a light bulb sparked an idea-haaha.  Colored Light Bulbs! Perfect, they are transparent so having two different colored overlapping light bulbs would make a third color.  We discussed the different parts of a light bulb and the different shapes.

Color Mixing- Overlapping Light Bulbs

After we drew the light bulb shapes we filled them in with the PRIMARY colors -red, yellow, blue.  Where a light bulb overlapped another we had to think... red+yellow = orange, yellow+blue = green, blue+red = purple.

Last but not least we shaded the metal with our pencil and added black broken glass shapes in the background to break up the space and make our colors pop!

Third Grade - Color Mixing bottles, jars, and vases

Third grade has a huge color theory unit.  We are just getting underway with the concepts.  Everyone drew and traced shapes for bottles, jars and vases.  The 3 catches: each had to have an opening at the top, be symmetrical, and overlap!  The overlapping was key.  Each object was painted with the primary colors, but when they overlapped they had to be painted with the secondary that the 2 primaries would mix to make.  Puzzling you say?  Not for KBK's third grade!