My little guy absolutely loves rainbows! He also loves science and getting a little messy, so I knew that enjoying a fun color mixing activity would be right up his ally. A great color mixing activity for preschoolers combined with creating a fingerprint rainbow is the perfect combination of science and messy, not to mention a great time spent together. I was so right – he loved this activity!
Colour Mixing Activity for Preschoolers
This is a very simple but magical activity! I began by asking what colors are in a rainbow. Once he listed all the colors, I showed him what we would be using to make our own rainbow. He then reminded me that we were missing some colors, and I told him we were going to use a little magic to make the missing colours. The amazement in his eyes was just so adorable!
Materials
This colour mixing activity for preschoolers only requires a few simple materials you likely already have at home:
- Red paint
- Yellow paint
- Blue Paint
- Paint brushes
- 3 Plastic plates
- White cardstock
Predicting
Using the 3 plates, I put a bit of paint on each. Take this time to encourage your child to predict what colors would be needed to make orange, green, and purple. Have them make guesses and ask how they came to these conclusions.
Rainbow experiment
The first step is to use one finger and make an arc of red onto the cardstock.
Leaving a space in between, use another finger to make the yellow arc for the rainbow.
Now to test his prediction. Since my little one was right, this step was easy. Even if they did not choose the right combination, I think it’s important to test it out and show them. I would ask my little one to try again with different colours if they didn’t get it “right” the first time
Using the same color that they started with for the fingerprint, dip the child’s whole hand into the red and the other hand into the yellow. Ensure that you have a good amount of paint on each hand and then place the two together.
Magic
This part was just my favourite! I held my little guy’s hands together and asked if he was ready for magic. Ever so slowly, I opened his hands and…abracadabra! We now had orange paint. Using this paint, we fingerprinted the orange arc.
In order to keep the colours crisp and as bright as possible, we washed our hands in warm soapy water in between each colour change.
We continued to test his predictions and repeated the same steps with the yellow and blue, and red and blue paint combinations. Remember to leave a space in between the yellow and blue fingerprint arc. You don’t want this color mixing activity for preschoolers to be a mixed up rainbow!
Fun learning!
This colour mixing activity for preschoolers was quite the learning experience. The science experiment to make predictions and test them out really had my little one thinking, and the fingerprinting was great for strengthening his fine motor skills.
Once completed, why not use it to teach another lesson? While this was a fun activity that I would be happy to keep, it would also make a perfect gift. Why not give it to a loved one you haven’t seen in awhile? Who doesn’t adore little fingerprints, and what a way to brighten someone’s day!
No matter what you do, this experience was definitely a special memory I will treasure forever. I hope it is for you, too!
Joanna is a full-time teacher and part-time mompreneur with a personalized and custom gift shop. She has a passion for writing and loves creating wonderful memories for her 3 beautiful children. As a huge fan of Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus, Joanna lives by her biggest lesson: “Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!” You can find her on Facebook.
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