Learning about colours doesn’t have to be boring. Our colour mixing sensory science made for a very fun few days! 
We were inspired by our Rainbow theme last week and decided to extent our learning about colors into this week. There is a song that we sang (to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”):
“When you hug blue and yellow, it makes green; when you hug blue and yellow, it makes green; when you hug these two you’ll see a new color magically; when you hug blue and yellow, it makes green.”
Of course, for the next two versus, you make orange by “hugging” red and yellow and make purple by “hugging” red and blue.
We did a few easy color mixing experiments.
Colour Mixing Sensory Bags:
Supplies needed:
- resealable plastic sandwich bags
- red paint
- blue paint
- yellow paint
Instructions:
Squirt some blue paint and red paint into one bag, ensuring that the paints are on opposite sides of the bag. Do the same in other bags with blue paint and yellow paint in one and red paint and yellow paint in another.
Seal the bags, removing as much of the excess air as you can.
Discuss primary and secondary colors.
Have the child hypothesize what colours will be created when the paint is mixed.
Have the child mix the paints together with their fingers by moving the paint around through the bag. This is a great sensory activity too. 
The kids are able to create other colours by squishing the primary colours into each other.
You can hang the bags on the window using clear packing tape and have the child observe how the sun shining through affects the appearance of the colours.
This experiment is one of many included in the first volume of our Sensory Science Book. It is full of engaging hands-on learning designed to help kids retain what they learn because of using their senses in the process. 
Colour Mixing Mini Volcanos:
Supplies needed:
- baking soda
- cake pan
- vinegar
- food colouring
- droppers
Instructions:
Place a layer of baking soda in a cake pan. Fill three cups a third of the way with vinegar and add about five drops of food colouring to each cup.
Fill the droppers with the coloured vinegar and squeeze it out onto the baking soda. By adding another colour on top, you can create little volcanos of new colour in mixing them. 
They loved this activity!
The kids learned:
-that the best way to form a new colour was to have a person with one dropper of one colour and another person with another colour squeeze at the same time in the same area. Once left on the baking soda, the colours did not mix as easily.
-that mini volcanos are fun.
-that when you pour the three glasses of color into each other, you end up with almost black.
Mommy learned that when you do this activity, you should put newsprint down to protect your counters!!! (note that in the early picture, there was none underneath!)
The kids especially liked the look of the bottom of the cake plate after we were done and wished we could hang it like artwork. Unfortunately, a picture of it will have to do!
Some of the books that we read that were related to colour:
The kids also completed a great colour mixing worksheet (find it here)Â and had fun with some Mandala coloring pages that I printed for free from here.
They also had plenty of opportunity for hands-on learning on colour mixing with paint.
Check out these other great sensory science activities:
