The Color Of Your Own:  Mixing Paint

Toni Spooner                   Horace Mann School
                               8050 South Chappel
                               Chicago IL 60617
                               (312) 535-6640

Objectives:

This lesson is designed for kindergarten and first grade students. 
  1.   Students will be able to understand how to make simple old fashioned 
       paint solutions.
  2.   Students will be able to recognize primary and secondary colors.
  3.   Students will be able to understand how primary colors are used to make 
       secondary colors.

Materials Needed:

     The book The Color Of His Own by Leo Lionni      cups
     Water                                            brushes
     Nonfat powdered milk                             tag board
     Color additive materials such as:                trays
          beet juice                                  color wheel
          food coloring                               tongue depressors
          colored paint powder
          various flavors of kool-aid
          spices

Strategy:
   
   1.  To arouse the attention of students, the teacher sings the song of 
       identifying colors.  It is the tune of Mary Had A Little Lamb. 
       "Who is wearing green today, who is wearing green?  Please raise your 
       hand."  After the song, you settle the children down and begin asking the 
       children: what has color and what is painted?

   2.  Once the class has shared their knowledge about what has color and what 
       is painted, you share about the colonial times.  In the colonial times, 
       people made paint from milk and other natural materials such as berries, 
       reddish-brown earth, and blood from animals.  The milk was usually 
       leftover milk that had soured.  Instead of throwing it away, colonial 
       people made paint with it.  They used it to paint houses and furniture. 

   3.  After this discussion, you start with the procedures of mixing paint.

   4.  With primary students, you should group the students in groups of three.
       This enables each child to mix a primary color.
   
   5.  On a tray, place in a cup or bowl equal parts of water and nonfat dry 
       milk.  You may have to adjust the quantity to make the consistency of 
       paint.  Use the color additives of the three primary colors for the 
       children to mix.

   6.  After making the primary paint colors, have the children paint a picture 
       using the paints on tag board. 

   7.  Next, have the children mix the primary colors to make the secondary 
       colors.  After mixing, have the children paint another picture with all 
       the colors.

   8.  The children have made a simple, old fashioned paint that will dry in 
       about two hours.

Strategy 2:
   
   1.  This is an extension of strategy one.  Have the students get into groups 
       of four.

   2.  On a tray, place in a cup or bowl equal parts of water and nonfat dry 
       milk.  You may again want to adjust the concentrations to make the 
       consistency of paint.  Have the children choose a color additive from the 
       kool-aid or any other additive you have gathered. 

   3. Have the children mix the different concentrations and paint using these 
      colors on the tag board. 

   4. Have the children explore with mixing paint and answer the following 
      questions:
            1. What colors are best?
            2. What colors can you make without mixing?
            3. What colors mix well?
            4. What colors can you mix by mixing other colors?

Performance Assessment:
     
     The performance assessment would be showing a color wheel using the paints 
     the children have created and painting the colors on the wheel.  I would 
     ask for the primary colors and next the secondary colors to be placed 
     afterwards.  The worksheet shaped as a wheel would have the letter P for 
     primary and the letter S for secondary colors.  This helps the children to 
     place the colors in the correct position.

Conclusion:

     After the performance assessment, the teacher would read the story The
     Color Of His Own.  Each child would have flashcards with the words primary 
     and secondary on it.  As the teachers reads the story and comes to a color 
     word, the children would have to hold up the flashcard that indicates a 
     primary color or secondary color.  This is a great way to end the mini unit 
     on colors.

Reference:

     KITCHEN CHEMISTRY:  (K-3) by Carson-Dellosa Publishing