May 14th 2013

As you know, the children have been showing a great interest in painting.  I am sure you have been taking some home with you!  What you will often see in their works of art are paintings with a variety of colors.  As a classroom, we have been discussing the importance of mixing colors.  The children have been experimenting with mixing colors of paint.  

Last week my co-teachers and I studied the way the children were painting.  We noticed the children knew how to mix colors on a palette.  Only providing the primary colors, black, and white, we started to paint.  The children really enjoyed mixing colors to see the results.  They knew mixing would create new colors.  The first two attempts we provided black, which turned a lot of their colors very dark.  This showed me that the children needed to be more intentional with their mixing of colors if they wanted to paint.

As a whole group, I started the discussion of painting strategies.  One thing we talked about was the washcloth and wiping off our paintbrush when we wanted to switch colors.  What I found is the children would go from color to color and dilute the primary colors on their palette.  We also noticed that the children did not have a "defined" place for their new colors they made.  We talked about where we could make new colors on our palette.

The children then got a chance to work on color mixing with the inspiration of our basket of flowers.