- Age:3+
- Time:15 min
- Difficulty:Easy
- Mess level:Low
- Supervision:No
Have you ever been in a situation that you really needed a green color and all you have are some blue and yellow? Well, no worries! In this experiment, you will be learning colors and how to transform primary colors into secondary by combining them.
Color Theory
Colors are all around us and play an important role in our life. They can affect our mood and make something more or less appealing.
But how do we perceive them? It’s quite a complex process involving vision, light and some individual interpretation. Objects are actually not colored, they just appear to be because of the way they reflect light.
We started to understand colors thanks to Sir Isaac Newton. In 1666, he conducted his famous prism experiment in which he showed that a glass prism can break up light into several different colors. Those colors were red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue and violet (colors of the rainbow) and he called them spectrum.
An interesting property of those colors was that all other imaginable colors could be produced by combining them. This model is called additive and its primary colors are red, green and blue (RGB). It’s widely used in electronic devices - computers and television.
In everyday life, there is another model used - material or subtractive model with primary colors red, yellow and blue. Those colors can’t be produced by mixing other colors and all other colors can be produced from them. Mixing primary colors gives us secondary colors - orange, green and violet. Tertiary colors are combinations of primary and secondary. This whole system is most often presented as a color wheel.
Combining Primary Colors, we can get Secondary Colors
Why screens use different primary colours
You might have heard that the primary colours are red, green, and blue - and that's true for light! Screens and phones mix coloured light (the additive RGB model), where red, green, and blue combine to make white. Paints, inks, and food colouring instead mix pigments (the subtractive model), where the primaries are red, yellow, and blue. That's why the primary colours you learn for painting differ from the ones a TV uses.
Beside the hue (is it red or blue), there are some other properties that specify the color. Tone defines how pure the color is, when we mix other neutral/grayscale colors we make the color softer, more toned. Adding pure white to the color is referred to as tint - lighter color. And adding black to the color is called the shade - darker color.
There are other properties such as saturation, brightness, and intensity which are used mostly in digital design.
Materials Needed for the Mixing Colors Activity
You will need some food Colors, Water and empty Bottles
- Water
- Food coloring (yellow, red, blue and optionally others)
- Bottles with corks
- Oil (optional)
Instructions for the Color Mixing Experiment
For detailed instructions on how to do this experiment, watch the video on the beginning of the article or continue reading.
- Pour some water into the bottle and add a few (4–5) drops of your first colour. Shake it so the water becomes evenly coloured.
- Pour in a little oil and watch how it sits on top of the water.
- Choose another colour and add a few drops into the bottle. The drops will rest on the oil.
- Put the cork on and shake the bottle vigorously.
Voila! Depending on the colors you chose, you will get a new color in the bottle. There are many other possible combinations out there so try to experiment yourself and see if you can discover them.
If you mix blue and yellow, which secondary colour will you get?
Make your prediction, then tap an answer to check!
What will you learn by Mixing Colors?
- You can get secondary colors by mixing primary colors
- Blue + Red = Violet
- Blue + Yellow = Green
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Water and oil don’t mix
- Water has a higher density than oil, therefore oil stays on the surface
Try It on Screen: The Color Mixing Lab
Before (or after) the real experiment, try mixing on screen. Tap two paint pots to see which color appears, make it lighter or darker, switch to mixing light, then test yourself in the quiz. The tool also lives on its own page.
Tap two pots to mix them
✂️ Free printable
Color mixing worksheet pack
2 pages · 267 KB
A screen-free printable: mixing equations to color in, a color wheel to complete and a lab notebook for the bottle experiment.
Key takeaways
- Objects aren't really coloured - we see colour from the light they reflect.
- In the paint (subtractive) model the three primary colours are red, yellow, and blue.
- Mixing two primaries makes a secondary colour: red + yellow = orange, yellow + blue = green, blue + red = violet.
- Adding white makes a tint (lighter), black makes a shade (darker), and grey changes the tone.
- Oil and water don't mix - oil is less dense and floats - so the colours only blend once you shake the bottle.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the three primary colors?
In the paint or pigment model used for mixing paints, inks, and food colouring, the three primary colours are red, yellow, and blue. They can't be made by mixing other colours, but you can mix them to make every other colour.
What two colors make green?
Blue and yellow make green. Green is a secondary colour, which means it's made by mixing two primary colours together.
What are secondary colors?
Secondary colours are the colours you get by mixing two primary colours: red + yellow makes orange, yellow + blue makes green, and blue + red makes violet. Mixing a primary with a secondary gives a tertiary colour.
What is the difference between primary and secondary colors?
Primary colours (red, yellow, blue) can't be created by mixing other colours - they're the starting points. Secondary colours (orange, green, violet) are made by mixing two primaries. Together they form the basis of the colour wheel.
Why don't the oil and water mix in the bottle?
Two reasons. Oil is less dense than water, so it floats on top, and oil is also a nonpolar molecule, so it doesn't bond with water. The coloured drops sit on the oil until you shake the bottle hard enough to mix everything.
What is a fun way to teach a toddler about colors?
Hands-on play works best. Mixing coloured water in clear bottles lets a child see secondary colours appear in real time. You can extend it by colouring homemade playdough or rainbow rice, so they connect colour names with things they make and touch.
When you’re done, you can apply those colors by making Homemade playdough or Rainbow colored rice and have even more fun! Or you can make your own Lava Lamp and if you're feeling adventurous, try and make Homemade Plastic.
