This month we explored color. Color is what you see when light shines off an object. In art, color can tell a story. It gives form to shapes, and different colors can make you feel certain moods. For example, yellow can create feelings of happiness. Blue can make you feel calm. What’s your favorite color?
This is the color wheel. Artists use a color wheel to mix colors. Do you know what the three primary colors are? You can mix primary colors to create more colors. What color do you make when you combine yellow and blue? Red and yellow? Blue and red?
Take a closer look at these two abstract paintings. Abstract art doesn’t look like anything we see in real life. Instead, it uses colors, shapes and lines to create a story. What colors can you find? Which colors are the same in each painting? Which colors are different?
Let’s make collage art inspired by the color wheel.
For this activity, you will need:
- paper with circle divided into six wedges
- washable markers
- school glue
- miscellaneous colored objects (bottle caps, pompoms, stickers, popsicle sticks, feathers)
- protective table covering (plastic tablecloth or newspaper)
To create your color wheel collage:
- Cover your work surface for easy clean-up.
- Place the paper on your covered surface. You can print out a pie chart template or draw a large circle with six wedges. Have your toddler use markers to color each section with one of the following colors: yellow, blue, red, purple, orange, green. Once finished, you should have six different colored sections in your color wheel.
- Collect various colorful objects that you’d like to add to your color wheel. Use any recycled materials that you have on hand.
- Squeeze glue all over one color wheel section for easier object placement. Have your little artist place colored objects that correspond to the color of the glued section. Repeat for each color.
- Allow the collage to dry and admire your work of art.