Experimenting with color and paint is a good way to learn about the best combinations.
Playing with color and paint allows you to do scientific experiments while being creative and artistic. It can allow you to learn more about basic color theories and how colors and paint are made. All you need are a few simple supplies you should already have in your house and you will be ready to start experimenting with colors and paints.
Vegetable Paint Dye
Learn make your own natural paint colors by using vegetables. For this science experiment, you will need skins from a variety of vegetables, such as carrots, beets, radishes and zucchini. Whole broccoli, peppers and spinach also work for this activity. Freeze the vegetables overnight. The next day, put each vegetable in its own cup and thaw. You can use the microwave if you are short on time. Grind, crush and chop each vegetable until pulp is all that is left. Add 5 teaspoons of water to each cup and let sit for 5 minutes. Take a paintbrush and dip it into one cup and then use it to paint on paper. See what color each vegetable can create to learn make natural dyes.
Color Changing Milk
When mixing milk, food coloring and liquid soap, very strange things can happen. Gather up all the materials you will need ahead of time: milk, a dinner plate, food coloring, dish washing soap and cotton swabs. Pour the milk in the dinner plate to cover it, but do not let it overflow. Let the milk sit for 5 minutes so it can settle. Add a drop of four different food colorings. Keep the drops close together, but not on top of each other. Use a cotton swab and dip it in the milk without stirring and see what happens. Next, pour a drop of dish washing soap on another cotton swab and once again, dip it in the milk. Wait 10 to 15 seconds and take note of what happens to all the colors. Try putting the cotton swab at different places in the milk dish to see if the results change.
Spininng Color Wheel
Make a simple spinning color wheel to learn about primary, secondary and complementary colors using basic craft materials. Cut a circle of about 5 inches in diameter out of cardboard. Use a compass or a round object to trace the form and then use scissors to cut the circle. With a pen and ruler, divide the circle in 6 equal pie-like sections. Using paint, color each pie section in the following order: yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green. Make a small hole in the middle of the circle with your scissors and pull an 18-inch string of yarn through the hole so that equal parts remain on either side of the circle. With a string on each hand, spin it until the yarn is twisted on itself. With a firm grip, pull on both strings and let the color wheel turn on itself. Look at the colors and see what happens when it gains more speed.
Color Ice Cubes
Another fun way to learn how colors interact is to use food coloring and ice cubes. Prepare ahead of time by making ice cubes that each have a drop or two of red, yellow or blue food coloring. When doing the experiment, you will need cups halfway filled with hot, but not boiling, water. Start by putting two cubes of different colors in one cup and try to predict what will happen once both cubes are melted. By mixing a red and a blue cube, you should get a purple mix. Later on, try creating new colors, such as magenta and aquamarine, by adding a single cube of a primary color to a previous mix that resulted in a secondary color.
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