Hands On Color Mixing and Rainbow Activities

Hello and welcome to Make it Monday on I Teach Kinder!  I'm Seemi and I've been a Montessori teacher for over 15 years.  I fall more and more in love with this educational approach every day.  In 2009 I started my own school - Trillium Montessori - and began blogging about our classroom activities in 2013.

One of the key things about Montessori is that it is a very hands on approach to learning.  I'm excited to be a part of this collaborative blog where all the bloggers use hands on strategies too!

I thought Make it Monday would be a good way to introduce you to some hands on Montessori inspired activities.

Let's start with Rainbows!  Spring is here and with rain showers on the way, I hope you see many many rainbows soon.  Here are some of the simple activities we have done to bring rainbows into our room. 

There is nothing to print out.  Just set up the activities and allow the children to explore and discover.

Color Mixing and the Color Wheel

Use colored water to create secondary colors and place the little cups in the order of the color wheel.  The cups are tea light holders from Ikea.

Holding up two of the glass bottles with primary colors is really fun too!  What color do you see?

Color Mixing with Playdough

I use little balls of Crayola brand Model Magic for this activity.  The colors mix beautifully.  Just press it down on the paper and it will stick.

Make Indigo and Violet

Indigo and violet... what wonderful words!  We love to give children precise vocabulary for the luscious diversity in our world.  

Here's a little setup to make indigo and violet.  Use diluted red and blue tempera paint in the dropper bottles.  You'll need just a little bit of the paint in order to get the right consistency.  Drop equal amounts of blue and red in both cups, then add more blue for the indigo and more red for the violet.

Make a Rainbow Necklace

Wait... do we need to have a craft to take home too?

How about this rainbow necklace made of rigatoni noodles and fruit loops?  We love making necklaces in our class.  It's such a great way to practice patterning skills.  With this we can practice the color sequence of the rainbow too.  Plus it's a delicious treat to take home!

Thank you for joining us on I Teach Kinder!  Come and visit me at Trillium Montessori when you get a chance!