Activity 4:

A Splash of Colors

Objective:

Students will explore colors through different art mediums.

Materials:

Various paints: tempera, acrylic
Colored chalk
Fabric scraps
White poster board or tag board
Paint brushes
Glue
Squeeze bottles

Teacher Preparation:

Several days before, ask students to bring in old shirts to use as paint smocks, and newspaper to cover the tables or desks.
Cut posterboard into 16"x20" (approximate) rectangles.

Motivational Link:

Explain to the students that Edgar Degas and Clementine Hunter loved to mix colors to produce their paintings. Remind them that each had his or her own style and color preferences. Explain that the students will experiment with mixing colors using different mediums. Write the word "mediums" on the board. Mediums are the materials an artist uses to create a picture, design, sculpture, etc.

Activity:

Have the children put on old shirts over their clothes and break the class up into small work areas. Read the book Colors by Philip Yenawine (Delacorte Press: New York, 1991).
Put each of the different art materials at each area and instruct the students to make a design using the fabric and paint on the posterboard.
Tell them they can glue fabric onto the posterboard and make designs with the acrylic paint.
Have them dip the paintbrushes into the tempera paint and splash or brush the paint over the design. Encourage them to use several colors.
Tell them to use the colored chalk to make more designs on the posters.
Allow the designs to dry. As the designs dry, bring the students together to discuss what they discovered. Did the colors change? Remain the same? What happened to the fabric and the chalk? How was one paint different from the other?
Introduce a color wheel. Show students the primary colors, then show how mixing them makes secondary colors.
Have the children write or draw in their Adventure Journals about their experience with this activity.

Alternate Activity:

Allow the children to put three or four globs of acrylic paint inside a large gallon-size Ziploc bag. Seal the bag completely, then allow the children to mix the paint by rolling their fingers across the bag. As the colors mix and change, talk with them about how two colors can mix to form a third color.