Easy Peasy Preschool Color Experiment
Sometimes the best way for a preschooler to learn something is to do a hand-on experiment. This is the exact approach I took after deciding to try introducing secondary colors to my 3-year-old daughter. Sure, she knows her colors, she still was not quite making to connection as to how certain colors mixed together to make new colors. There are many different color mixing activities ideas online, as a simple search will prove, but my preschooler is all about pouring– water, sand, puzzle pieces….she’s not picky! So, I decided that colored water would work just as well as painting, and it required much less prep and clean up. A few drops of food coloring, water, and cups = easy peasy color experiment perfectly suited for a tiny preschool scientist. Here’s all you’ll need for this hands on preschool-appropriate experiment:
Materials:
- Water
- Plastic cups (I got a package of 40 from the Dollar Store)
- Red, Blue, and Yellow food coloring
Step 1: Have your preschooler help you fill 3 cups with water. Then have your little scientist place a few drops of primary colored food coloring (red, blue, and yellow).
- This is a great opportunity to introduce the terms “primary” and “secondary” to older children.
- You could additionally make your own accompanying worksheet for your preschooler to collect the data of what they observe, such as “red + blue=” and have them use a marker to show the results.
Step 2: Give you preschooler 3 empty cups (minimum) so they have a place to pour the colored water. Then, you could either ask, “What color do blue and yellow make?” or, “How do you make green?”
- I found it easier to ask my preschooler, “What color do “”A and “B” make?” until she experimented a few times making the secondary colors. Then I switched to just having her make a certain color.
