Color Week!
This week we're exploring all the colors of the rainbow! Each of our projects goes along with a different color - red, blue, yellow, purple, orange and green.
One of our favorite things to do in the studio is to show a child how to mix paint colors. The look on their face when they see yellow and red make orange for the first time is so fun to watch! So, a few of our projects this week will show kids how to mix colors and others will simply let kids explore various hues, shades, tints and textures of the same color.
Blue - Collage
This project was inspired by the art of Texas/Mexico based artist Xochi Solis. You can check out more of her work here. We encourage kids to find as many different patterns & shades of blue as they can find around the studio. Kids can also paint their own paper to collage with. They then cut shapes organically & collage with a glue stick.
Orange
For this project, we set out yellow paint, red paint & some old hotel key cards. Kids dip the card in yellow and scrape it across the paper. Next, they dip the card in red & scrape it across the paper. Continue to scrape the two colors together until the whole paper is covered & the color orange is created. We have tried a LOT of brands of non-toxic washable paint and Crayola brand Washable Paint is the very best.
Red
We gave the kids assorted red art materials - paper, markers, paint, oil pastels, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue, paint sticks & markers. Kids were encouraged to play with materials to create a mixed media pattern.
Purple
We love liquid watercolors. You can also use food coloring if you have that on hand. Dilute the liquid watercolor with regular water and put into a paint cup. We gave the kids a cup of red, a cup of blue, a cup of clean water, a few brushes, some Kosher salt & some watercolor paper. First, have kids paint their paper with clean water. Second, add a little bit of blue paint on top of the water. Finally, add a little red. Watch the colors mix and explode. This is called “wet on wet” technique. While paint is wet, kosher salt can be sprinkled on top. The salt absorbs the water. Once the paint is dry, the salt can be brushed off to form fun textures and patterns.
Yellow - Blind Contour Drawings
Blind contour drawings are a fun exercise for artists of all ages. Kids seem to have a lot of fun with this. The idea is to have the kids look at something and draw it without looking at their paper and without picking up their pen. We've witnessed a lot of giggling with kids drawing each other. For our yellow station, kids drew on watercolor paper with either a yellow permanent marker, a crayon or an oil pastel. They can then paint a yellow watercolor wash on top for the background. The watercolor will resist the permanent marker or crayon lines.
Storytime & Craft - Green
We are reading the book Green, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and exploring making art with different shades and textures of the color Green. We rounded up all the green materials we could find in our studio - everything from paint to markers to recycled materials and more!
