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I vowed to begin the year with a unit on teaching color theory. It means breaking out the paints when it'd be a lot easier sticking to paper and markers but what the heck, I have a sink. By second grade, most kids know the primary colors and many know the secondary colors. This lesson reinforces the idea that color combinations are infinite and just darn fun to make!
SUPPLIES:

12″ x 18″ White Paper

Black waterproof marker

Palette of red, yellow and blue (for each child...I know, lots of prep!)

Paint brush and water containers

DRAWING THE FISH:
I make oval templates for the children. You don't have to of course, but it speeds up the lesson when all anyone wants to get to is the painting! I ask the students to trace 3 big templates and three little templates. Add tails, fins, eyes, etc. But no designs...yet!

Painting the Primary Colors art lesson

Pass out a paper plate or tray with yellow, red and blue tempera paint. One for each student. Ask the children to paint one big fish yellow, one big fish red and another big fish blue. Demonstrate the importance of cleaning their brush for this colors art lesson.

Now for the mixing. Take a tiny scoop of yellow and a tiny scoop of red and mix on the palette. Once they've created their orange, have them paint it on a baby fish. Do the same for blue+yellow=green and red+blue=purple.
It's really common for some things to happen:
1. A child will trace more big fish than small fish.

2. A child will paint more than one fish yellow because the paint feels real good and he just can't help himself.

3. The child can't resist mixing all the colors together.

4. The child gets busy mixing all the colors and makes beautiful designs on his fish (yay!)

For all of these problems, forget it. Don't correct or point out a problem. The lesson is in the discovery!
Adding Value: Painting the Sea
After all the fish have been painted, it's time to bring out a tray of white paint and blue. You can put these in a well-type palette so that the kids can share. Mix blue and white directly onto the paper. Kids LOVE this part...some areas are light, some dark. It's totally within their control.
Outlining and Defining
For the final step, set out small tubs of black tempera paint and small teeny-tiny brushes. Paint over all marker lines. Add details to fish if desired. If the painting is dry, a less messy option to finishing the project is to use a black oil pastel. It's just as effective.

Check out my post on How to Teach Color HERE, for more helpful tips, video tutorial and a free handout!

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Primary and Secondary Colors Art Lesson | Deep Space Sparkle

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I vowed to begin the year with a unit on teaching color theory. It means breaking out the paints when it'd be a lot easier sticking to paper and markers but what the heck, I have a sink. By second grade, most kids know the primary colors and many know the secondary colors.

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FUN Mixing COLORS Primary & Secondary Colors Brown

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A color wheel is an illustrative model of color hues around a circle. It shows the relationships between the primary, secondary, and intermediate/ tertiary colors and helps demonstrate color temperature. Digital teams communicate exact colors through the use of hex codes.

Understanding the Color Wheel

Many color wheels are shown using 12 colors. Using this color wheel as an example, it can be read as follows:

Three Primary Colors (Ps): Red, Yellow, Blue

Three Secondary Colors (S'): Orange, Green, Violent

Six Tertiary Colors (Ts): Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Violet, Red-Violet, which are formed by mixing a primary with a secondary

It's important to note that some people add more intermediates, for 24 total named colors, and some color wheels show interior points and circles, which represent color mixtures.

Color Temperature

The colors on the red side of the wheel are warm; the green side of the wheel has the cooler colors. These color temperature designations are absolute. More subtle color temperature relationships are relative, meaning that each color on the warm side of the wheel can be known as cool, and colors on the cools side of the wheel can be known as warm depending on the relationship to their neighboring color. Colors from the same hue, for instance red, can also be warmer or cooler than one another.

Color temperatures affect us both psychologically and perceptually by helping us determine how objects appear positioned.

Warm Colors

Cool Colors

Warm colors include red, orange, and yellow, and variations of those three colors.

Red and yellow are both primary colors, with orange falling in the middle.

Warm colors appear closer to the observer.

Cool colors include green, blue, and purple, and variations of those three colors.

Blue is the only primary color within the cool spectrum.

Greens take on some of the attributes of yellow, and purple takes on some of the attributes of red.

They are often more subdued than warm colors.

Cool colors appear farther from the observer.

Neutrals

Neutral colors include black, white, gray, tans, and browns. They're commonly combined with brighter accent colors but they can also be used on their own in designs. The meanings and impressions of neutral colors depend more so upon the colors around them.

Color Models: CMYK vs. RGB

There are two models for colors. They have different purposes and different attributes. They are as follows:

CMYK Color Models: Stands for cyan, magenta, and yellow. It applies to painting and printing. The CMYK model is a subtractive model, meaning that colors are created through absorbing wavelengths of visible light. The wavelengths of light that don't get absorbed are reflected, and that reflected light ends up being the color we see.

RGB Color Models: RGB stands for red, green, and blue. It applies to computers, televisions, and electronics. The RGB model is an additive model, meaning that colors are created through light waves that are added together in particular combinations in order to produce colors.

Hex Codes

To name colors in web design, teams use hexademal code. All hexadermal codes:

Start with a hash mark (#)

Consist of three pairs of characters sequenced together (totaling of six characters), with each pair controlling one of the primary additive colors (red, green, blue)

Those six characters following the hash mark consist of ten numerals (0-9) and/ or six letters (a-f)

It is easy to identify patterns in the hex codes some colors; see SmashingMagazine's great chart at the right for this. Some things to know include:

00 is a lack of primary

ff is the primary at full strength

To find additive colors, start with black and change each pair to ff:

#000000 is black (no primaries)

#ff0000 is the brightest red

#00ff00 is the brightest green

#0000ff is the brightest blue

To find subtractive colors, start with white and change each pair to 00:

#ffffff is white (all primaries

#00ffff is the brightest cyan

#ff00ff is the brightest magenta

#ffff00 is the brightest yellow

It is also possible to abbreviate some hex numbers. For instances #fae expands to #ffaaee and #09b expands to #0099bb.

Additional Resources

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A color wheel is an illustrative model of color hues around a circle. It shows the relationships between the primary, secondary, and intermediate/ tertiary colors and helps demonstrate color temperature. Digital teams communicate exact colors through the use of hex codes.

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Learning Primary and Secondary Colors With Play-Doh