While painting during an Extended Day project one day, the concept of color mixing came up, and we started discussing the concept of Primary Colors and Secondary Colors, and how only mixing certain colors will you get the results you desire.
What better way to properly learn and grasp something than through a hands-on experiment!
We started off with three empty jars
Then, Dovid and Ari helped to fill two of the jars with water.
We then counted how many we had full, and how many empty
Then, Mina helped to color one jar with red coloring, while Leba help to color a second one with blue.
Ilan then helped to fold a paper towel and place one end of it in the red jar, and the other end in the empty jar. Noah helped to do the same with the blue jar.
We now had three jars, one with red water and a paper towel going from it into the empty jar, and one with blue water also with a paper towel going from it into the empty jar.
We asked the children if they knew what color you get when mixing red and blue, and Ilan correctly answered "Purple!"
Then we asked if they thought it was possible for the water to be able to get to the middle jar without us doing anything! Most seemed pretty skeptical, but we waited and watched to see what would happen.
Suddenly, the children started to notice the colors were crawling their way up the paper towel!
Slowly, Slowly, the more the waited and watched, the further along the colors were crawling, closer and closer to the empty jar! They were getting pretty close and we wondered if they would actually go all the way.
We also tried guessing which color was going to get there first. Dovid guessed that it would be the red one.
Noa was very intently keeping an eye on the jars, and keeping everyone informed about the progress. Suddenly, she called everyone over- she had noticed that the paper towels had started dripping into the empty jar! The colors were starting to mix and were turning into purple!
It was still taking its time, so we decided to make another one in the meantime. We used a different type of paper towels this time, hoping that maybe it would cause it to go faster. We also used blue and yellow the second time, which Ilan correctly told us makes green!
We left our experiments in the classroom and went out to go play for a bit. The children kept on eagerly asking if we can go back and check on them. We went back a short while later, and Sammy and Annabelle came with us to check them out too!
We noticed that even more of the purple had collected, and the blue and the yellow had indeed mixed to make green!
We then left it overnight, to let it fully progress. The next day the purple and the green jars had filled up until all three jars water levels were equal to each other.
We brought them out for the children to see, and they were so fascinated how the water had traveled by itself through the paper towels, and how the two colors had mixed to form another color.
It was amazing to see how engaged and excited the children were, how great their observation skills were, and the great questions and theories they posed. We can't wait to expand on this experiment, and continue exploring the fascinating world of colors.
Have a Shabbat Shalom!
