I believe that it is so important to teach our kids about tolerance and accepting the differences in ourselves and others. When we learn to work together and embrace our differences, wonderful things can happen. Today’s book explores this important topic through color mixing, with a fun story about colors coming together to create new possibilities. I decided to bring it to life with a list of fun color mixing activities for kids!

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Mixed: A Colorful Story was written and illustrated by Arree Chung. This story starts out with 3 colors: Reds, Yellows, and Blues. Though they live side by side in harmony for a while, that all changes when they start arguing about which color is the best. They begin to live in separate color families, until one day, a Blue and a Yellow fall in love. They decide to mix, leading to a new color. All the other colors decide to start mixing, and a rainbow of colors is born.

The illustrations are simple, using black and white backgrounds to focus the attention on the cute color characters. The important message of tolerance, acceptance, and working together shines through the text and the illustrations, making this a great introduction to these heavy topics for kids.

Creating Colors

To bring this book to life, I decided to gather a list of fun color mixing activities from some of my fellow bloggers. As you create new colors together, remind kids of the beauty of new things, and how boring life would be if everything was the same.

Color Mixing Sensory Activities

1. Color Theory Slime – The blog Here Come the Girls mixed different colored slime batches to create new colors.
2. Color Mixing in the Snow – Take advantage of any snow on the ground with this snow based activity from Adventure in a Box.
3. Colorful Fizzing Sensory Bin – This fun sensory bin from My Bored Toddler uses baking soda, vinegar and food coloring to create fun fizzy reactions.
4. Gross Motor Color Mixing – The blog Still Playing School uses colored water and a vinyl shower curtain to create this fun gross motor experience.
5. Color Mixing Sensory Writing – Growing Book by Book uses shaving cream and food coloring to explore colors and provide kids with writing practice.
6. Color Mixing in a Bag – The blogs Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds and Mama Smiles mixed paint in a plastic bag to create a fun sensory experience.
7. Frozen Oobleck Color Mixing – The blog Learning and Exploring Through Play uses melting blocks of frozen oobleck to explore mixing colors.
8. Color Mixing Sensory Bags – Explore primary and secondary colors with these sensory bags from The Chaos and the Clutter.

Color Mixing Science Experiments

1. Bubbling Rainbow – The Natural Homeschool used baking soda, vinegar and food coloring to create colorful and bubbly reactions.
2. Creating a Color Array – Buggy and Buddy and Learning and Exploring Through Play used paints, pipettes, and a tray to mix colors and create different shades.
3. Ice Color Mixing – This activity from Meaningful Mama and Red Ted Art uses ice and colored water to explore color mixing in front of your eyes.
4. Tissue Paper Color Wheel – School Time Snippets uses a paper plate and tissue paper to create a color wheel.
5. Kid Made Chromatography – The blog A Dab of Glue Will Do uses coffee filters and markers to explore color mixing.
6. Ice Painting with Salt – Explore color mixing and chemical reactions with this science activity from A Dab of Glue Will Do.
7. Hands-On Color Experiment – Mix and match different colors in this experiment from A Dab of Glue Will Do to explore new shades.
8. Color Mixing Lab – The blog Creative Family Fun uses colored ice cubes to explore color mixing in different ways.

Color Mixing Crafts

1. Color Mixing with Recyclables – This fun activity from Teach Me Mommy mixes paint colors together by rolling cardboard rolls down a paper covered slide.
2. Paint Mixing Circle Art – The blog Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds uses paint and cardboard tubes to mix colors and create fun artwork.
3. Color Mixing Coffee Filters – This art project from Messy Little Monster uses coffee filters and watered down paint to explore colors.
4. Ice Painting – The blog Messy Little Monster uses colorful ice to mix colors and create artwork.
5. Wet Chalk Color Mixing – School Time Snippets uses wet chalk as a fun way to explore colors.
6. Flat Marble Art – This activity from Kid Minds explores color mixing and creates fun artwork out of paint and flat marbles.
7. Watercolors on Paper Towels – Explore color mixing through this fun painting activity from Learning and Exploring Through Play.
8. Color Wheel & Exploration – The blog Crafty Moms Share uses a color wheel to explore color relationships and inspire artwork.

More Book Inspired Color Mixing Activities

1. Walking Rainbow Experiment – Explore color mixing with The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow. Watch as different colored water moves through paper towels and creates new colors.
2. Mixing Colors in a Bag – Introduce kids to color mixing with The Mixed Up Chameleon. This mess-free art activity allows kids to create new colors in a bag.
3. Mouse Paint Play Dough – Hands On Teaching Ideas brought the book Mouse Paint to life by mixing primary colored batches of play dough together.
4. Little Blue and Little Yellow Play Dough – Buggy and Buddy mixed blue and yellow balls of play dough together and paired the activity with the book Little Blue and Little Yellow.
5. Mixing Paint and Creating Colors – Buggy and Buddy was inspired by the book Mix It Up! to use tempera paint and a printable worksheet to mix colors together and create new ones.
6. Paint Mixing – Preschool Toolbox uses paints to explore color mixing and color matching, and to bring the book Mouse Paint to life.
7. Truffula Trees – The blog School Time Snippets uses a fork and paint to create adorable painted trees inspired by The Lorax.
8. Exploring Skin Tones – The blog Crafty Moms Share mixes paint colors to create different shades of brown to explore skin tones, along with the book The Colors of Us.

What are your favorite color mixing activities to use with kids? Share in the comments below!

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