Color Extension: Primary Handprints with a Secondary Background

Kindergarten students are exploring a little more in depth the Primary and Secondary Colors. Last week the students experimented with finger paints by mixing tche colors on their own. This week we started another project that uses both sets of these colors. First we did a little science project (pictured here in the gallery). I started with the primary colors in water. The students were then told to guess (or hopefully at this point know) which color would come of mixing 2 of the primaries. We started with yellow and red. I poured a little bit of yellow into another clear bowl and added some red water. We of course got orange! Then we poured some yellow into another clear bowl and added some blue! We of course got green and then last but not least we poured some red into a clear bowl and then added some blue and voila! We got purple! This was so intriguing to the students that they actually started cheering with "ooooohhh's" and "ahhhhh's" when each color was changed like magic. Then I had some students ask what would happen if we mixed all 3! And of course we experimented and got brown. The students were then given a white piece of paper and a black crayon. They were told to trace their hands with this black crayon as many times as it would fit on the paper. They then were given the primary colors to color in their handprints. Next the students filled their backgrounds with the secondary colors to create a finished piece of artwork made from their very own hands. Pun intended ;-) .

Learning objectives: Color theory, fine motor skills, listening to guided instruction. 

ART WORDS:
Primary Colors: red, yellow and blue.
Secondary Colors: purple, green and orange. 
Tracing: to copy or outline a line or image.