White Rabbit's Color Book - A Color Mixing Project

Each day during our many reading opportunities, at least one child will ask a Morah to read White Rabbit's Color Book, a book all about mixing colors. This book has become very popular in the class, and the children enjoy guessing what color the rabbit will be after taking a quick dip in the different paints, which always makes for an engaging story time.

After reading the book several times, the children expressed interest in trying a color mixing activity. In conjunction with a reading of the book, the class used droppers to mix red, yellow, and blue-colored water. They were able to make the three secondary colors that appear in the book as well as a host of other shades by making all sorts of creative combinations with their initial mixtures and the primary colors.

The children also used paper towels to view the colors from a different perspective. The orange dye in the photo below looked red in the cup, but when the paper towel was dipped in the cup, everyone could see that red and yellow made orange! Other students chose to use their droppers and the different color mixes to blend the colors on the paper towels in front of them.

The Walking Colors in Extended Care

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!

Kitah Alef Explores Colors

 In Kitah Alef we have been exploring all kinds of colors. Morah Myriam filled some zip lock bags with paint. We filled one with yellow and white paint, one with white and silver, and one with blue and white paint.

 Our friends helped tape the bags onto the wall. Once the bags were in place the children were able to touch and squeeze the paint inside the bags. We watched as the paints got all mixed up.

Morah Myriam pointed to the yellow paint: "Yellow!" Zoey and Sylvia repeated: "Yellow!" and so on with every color.

 The yellow paint turned a lighter, brighter yellow as the paint was pushed all around inside the bag, as did the blue paint. The silver inside the white paint slowly disappeared.

 Everyone had a chance to touch, squeeze, and push the paint around.

 Logan went from bag to bag squeezing and pushing each one. What is next on the menu: Red!