Are you ready to dive into everything color!? As I look out my window to see the ground yet again covered in white, I am ready to infuse more color into our days with some color theory art projects!
I rounded up 20 of the best ideas for exploring the color wheel, color mixing, color combinations, and more through art and hands-on activities. Enjoy!
Exploring Color Family Unit Study
Before we get into the Color Theory Art Ideas, I want to share with you one of my Family Unit Studies that your little artist will love!
It’s called Exploring Color, and covers everything from the physics of color, to the anatomy of color vision, the science behind rainbows and natural pigments, color theory, and some famous artists like Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol.
Phew! There’s a lot of fun, hands-on color learning packed into this beautiful unit study!
If you’re new here, let me explain. This unit study, like all of our ever-growing library of unit studies, takes one big topic—Color—and breaks it down into ten manageable, bite-sized learning topics. This format gives you the freedom to dive into learning at a pace that works for your family.
Each of the ten topics included with a unit study contains everything you need for that topic, including:
- a curated YouTube video,
- suggested information to read,
- a “what’s happening” section,
- an interesting fact,
- a discussion questions
- literacy and math extension questions,
- and an ultimate-can’t-be-beat hands-on activity!
Perhaps you do one topic per day, perhaps one per week. Whatever suits your fancy! You can learn all about color and explore a topic from start to finish in about 1-2 hours.
Free Color Mixing Activity & Template
One more thing before we get into the Color Theory Art Ideas!
You’ll want to grab this FREE Color Mixing Activity & Color Wheel Template. It is one of the hands-on activities from the Exploring Color Family Unit Study and a wonderful way to introduce children to primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Get your copy right here:
Color Theory Art & Activities that Explore the Color Wheel
Color Wheel Project – Explore color combinations with this fun color wheel project! Find analogous color combinations, complementary, and triadic, while also reinforcing the concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. This would be super handy to have on hand while you explore some of the other color theory art projects below!
Rainbow Bird Painting by Crafty Art Ideas – Learn about the colors of the rainbow while making these adorable birds! These were made using watercolors, but any materials you have on hand would work for this cute art project.
Color Wheel Umbrella by Leah Newton Art – This is such a cute color wheel art project!! I love the addition of blue splatters for the rain.
Color Wheel Collage by Arte a Sculola – This would be perfect for a large group of children! Grab a few old magazines, and children can find and cut out different colors to add to the color wheel.
Color Theory Activities that Explore Color Mixing
Walking Water – This experiment is always a favorite around here! Add water to two jars and add a few drops of either red, yellow, or blue food coloring to them. Put an empty jar in between, drape some paper towel from jar to jar, and watch the magic—er, science!—happen.
No Mess Color Theory Experiment by Rainy Day Mum – Another fun way to play with mixing primary colors! If you’re looking for a no-mess color mixing activity, this is the one for you!
Experimenting with Colors by The Primary Pack – Your little one can experiment with all sorts of color mixing with this setup! Starting with the primary colors, they can mix the secondary colors in their ice cube tray, then take it a step further and mix the tertiary colors as well.
Playdough Color Mixing for Kids by The Many Little Joys – You just know that playdough is all going to mix together anyway, might as well have some fun exploring color mixing along the way! And if you’re looking for the absolute best no-cook recipe for playdough—Kindergarten teacher approved!—I’ve got that for you right here.
Color Theory Art that Explores Color Combinations
Colored Glass Art Project by Mr. O’s Art Room – Now you’re ready to take that color mixing learning and apply it to some color theory art! This project will help reinforce learning about mixing primary colors to create secondary colors.
Citrus Fruits in Complementary Colors by Arte a Scula – This art project uses oil pastels and watercolors in complementary colors to really make the art pop. So cool!
Mondrian Style Hearts by Mrs. T’s First Grade Glass – Learn all about the artist Piet Mondrian and primary colors with this heart art! (P.S. We learn about Piet Mondrian in our Exploring Color Family Unit Study, too!)
Warm and Cool Trees by Tiny Artroom – So many color theory concepts in this art project! Use warm colors for the tree and cool colors for the background, plus, you’ll be working with analogous colors as you create your grass and sky. Brilliant!
Analogous Colors Weaving by Art Dish – When I first saw this project, I thought it was a puzzle, and holy moly, that would be a tricky one to figure out! It actually uses weaving to create this neat effect though. Cool!
Analogous Watercolor Geodes by Art with Mrs. E – These geodes are absolutely beautiful! Simply use three or so analogous watercolors to create these frame-worthy pieces of art.
Monochromatic Collage by Creative Family Fun – Loving this hands-on, tactile, monochromatic collage! Round up some scrap cardboard, popsicle sticks, really anything and get creative!
1st Grade Winter Landscapes by Elements of the Artroom – Another beautiful art project that uses warm and cool colors to create a contrasting background. You can also use color mixing to create a gradient sun!
Color Theory Art that Explores Tones, Tines, and Shades
Value Scale Ice Cream by Hayt Art Room – Such a fun way to learn about tones, tints, and shades! When you’re all done coloring in your ice cream pieces, cut and assemble from lightest to darkest.
Tints and Shades Ice Cream Cones by Art. Eat. Tie Dye. Repeat. – Another version of the ice cream art because I just love it so much! This one also uses a complementary color in the background to really make that ice cream pop.
Tints and Shades Painting Lesson by The Kitchen Table Classroom – For this art project, all you need is some paper, a paintbrush, and some paint in one color, black, and white. It’s an easy-peasy setup with a really neat result!
Tints and Shades Undersea Painting by Artsy Blevs – This would be a perfect art project to add to an ocean unit! You can even grab those free printables to use in the blog post.
I hope these color theory art projects gave you some inspiration to go create!
If you want to take a deep dive into all things art and color with your kids, you’re going to want the Exploring Color Family Unit Study:
Get the Complete Exploring Color Family Unit Study
https://shop.howweelearn.com/products/family-unit-study-exploring-color
Thank you so much for reading, my friend,
xo
Sarah
I am a member of a homeschool co-op, and one of the lessons I will be leading is about color. I have two groups of kids; littles are pre-k-6 and bigs are 7-12. What is a good way to make this a bit harder for my big kids? I don’t want to have to dumb it down for the big kids too much and I will definitely have to separate the groups for some activities. Thank you!
Hi Melissa! The Exploring Color Family Unit Study is ideal for children up to age 12! Modifications and enrichments are woven throughout the entire unit study making it perfect for all ages, from 4-12 years old.