![]() And experiment! Watch one of the mixing episodes ( Green Means Go, Red and Yellow Meet Orange and The Uncoloured Castle). Instead of aiming for a ‘perfect' green, enjoy all the different yellows, blues and greens you can make. Don’t expect perfect results: hands-on colour mixing involves trial and error (a bit more of one or other colour) to get the mix right, and real-world colour mixes are always a bit duller than the bright version of the mix colour - which is why paint sets include a range of bright colours. Take some paints, coloured modelling clay or dough and let your child experiment with mixing colours together. Tips: It’s not essential to memorise how to mix each colour – it’s more important for your child to experiment with mixing and see what happens for themself. Colourblocks has an episode on each of these mixes and how they work. Traditionally, we start with red, yellow and blue and show how to mix them in pairs to make orange, green and purple - and much of art teaching is based on these principles. And when two Colourblocks bump into each other, their colours mix to make a new Colourblock: this is Colour Magic. The Colourblocks discover that when two of them try to colour something at once, their colours mix to make a new colour. Mixing is one of the most exciting ways for a young child to experience colour. Make a colourful open sandwich with tomatoes, orange and yellow peppers, lettuce and more colourful ingredients. Put as many green toys or other small things as you can into a shoebox and take a photo. Sort the pieces into different colours, choose your favourites and paste them onto paper to make a pattern, shape, picture or just an explosion of colour. Tips: Take an old magazine with colourful photos and tear them into small pieces. There are lots of colour-first ways into art that don’t involve drawing skills. Be forgiving about colouring within the lines and the frustrations that can come with trying to draw. Colouring-in can be fun, and helps your child improve their pencil grip and fine motor skills. The Colourblocks colour things magically by touching them, but the best way for your child to get hands-on with colour is to grab some coloured paints, pencils or pens and make marks on paper. Tip: Point out colours that are used to signal things and investigate what they mean and why: traffic lights, water taps, road signs, fire engines, milk bottle tops, football (and goalie and referee) kits, Christmas colours and so on. ![]() ![]() In addition, colours are used to signal things: red means stop where green means go red means hot where blue means cold red is often used as a warning colour. These are deep-seated associations we carry about the character of each colour, and the Colourblocks’ personalities reflect them: Blue is cool and relaxed, and Yellow is sunny and happy. Yellow is generally considered a bright, sunny and happy colour, and blue a cool, relaxing colour that evokes a clear, blue sky. Watch the episode Silly Colours and have fun imagining silly colours for things: is brown or blue a silly colour for a dog? ![]() Tips: Point out colour things to your child and work out together whether they always belong to that colour (like strawberries) or can be any colour (like ribbons). Some things are always one colour (stop signs!) and some can be any colour – and so Red also has a favourite pair of red wellies. Building up an understanding of common things that belong to each colour helps children to make sense of the colour in the world all around them. ![]()
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