Mixing Colors in Water
Blue, yellow, and right before their eyes, green shows up in the glass.
Mixing Colors in Water is a Montessori activity for a child aged 3 to 4 years. Area: Science and Nature. Time: 15-20 min.
What the activity builds
Discover that two primary colors make a third one, and create a color themselves that wasn't there before.
The materials
- Six identical clear glasses
- Red, yellow, and blue food coloring
- A dropper, or a small spoon
- A white tray, or a sheet of white paper underneath
How to do it, step by step
- Fill three glasses with water and tint them red, yellow, and blue. Leave the other three empty.
- Arrange the glasses in a pattern: red, empty, yellow, empty, blue, empty.
- Take the dropper, draw up some yellow, and squeeze it into the empty glass next to it. Then draw up blue and add it to the same spot.
- Step back and watch, without a word.
- Hand the dropper to your child for the next two glasses.
- Line up all six glasses at the end and look at the color wheel they just made.
The parent's role
Show once, then step back. Let the silence do its work the moment the color changes, that's where it all happens. The dropper is the real motor challenge here: show it slowly, it's enough to keep them busy for several sessions. Only name green and orange once they've appeared.
Safety
Food coloring stains clothes and countertops for good: apron and a protective cloth. Remind them not to drink what's in the glasses, and empty everything at the end. The dropper is a small object, it doesn't go in the mouth, and it gets stored out of reach.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: two colors only, yellow and blue, which give the clearest green.
- Harder: they mix the three starting colors themselves, counting the drops.
- Extension: the same experiment with paint, on paper, with a brush.
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