---

• Cookie Sheet
• Water
• Food Dye
• Crayons
• Paper
• Candy Dishes
• Pipette or Turkey Baster
• Spoons

I bet you already have at least 90% of the items needed for this activity in your house.  The most difficult part for me was rounding up all the supplies while my excited preschooler waited not so patiently for me to get this activity set up for him.

The candy dishes I got at Amazing Savings.  I got a set of 4 for $1.  If you have one of these stores near you be sure to check it out.  It has completely changed my life.  They have all sorts of party supplies, office supplies, arts and crafts, toys and five million other things for really good
prices.  The little pipette is part of a set I got off of Amazon.  The spoons are part of a Melissa and Doug set.  I told him to go get spoons from his kitchen for mixing. Yes, my 3 year old son got a kitchen this year for Christmas.  He has always loved playing over at his friends kitchens and he loves cooking with Mommy.  So I convinced my husband he needed his own.  You should have seen his face when he woke up and saw his very own little kitchen. (Oh wait, you can!)  They do make kitchens that are for little boys.  There are also sets of pots and pans and spoons and all sorts of accessories that are gender neutral.  You just have to look for them.  Boys eat food too right? I want my boy to turn into a man that can cook for himself and his family one day.

On to the experiment…

I set up a simple work sheet.  I used crayons because I plan on hanging this sheet where he can see it so that he will remember the activity.  I want him to see the red + yellow = orange every time he looks at it.

Put the clear water in the cookie sheet and a start with a drop of red.   I used my finger and made a whirl pool to get the dye moving.  Now ask your child to move the water around a little bit to see how the dye moves in the water.  He giggled with delight and was thrilled to watch the color disperse.  Then add a drop of yellow and ask your child what color they think the water will turn as the colors mix together.  We used the pipette to transfer colored water to the candy dish so he could really see the mixed color.  I dumped the rest of the colored water in the sink and put fresh water in each time for each color mix.   As you do the experiment log your data.

 

The Results…

 

We have never done a color mixing experiment.  I recently realized I hadn’t done one with him and decided that had to be remedied.  I did not expect him to know what any of the colors would mix to.  He was silent when I asked him what red + yellow would be and red + blue.  When I asked Spencer what color he thought blue + yellow  would mix to he said green!

Spencer had so much fun that he didn’t want the activity to be over.  So we mixed these colors together.  I wasn’t exactly sure how the colors we were going to turn out.  But we got a very pretty teal from mixing the purple and green.

I hope you enjoy this activity with your kids. Please post pics of your happy littles if you decide to do this activity with them on our Facebook Page.

If you like reading this please share it with your friends!