Purpose: Learn Color Blending
Introduces/Supports/Reinforces:
Tactile Learning
Color Names
Color Blending
Hue and Saturation
Cause and Effect
Supplies Needed:
White foam shaving cream
Zip top bag
Food coloring
Duct Tape (optional)
Instructions/Teaching Touchstones:
Squirt shaving cream into bag
Allow child to choose colors to add, a drop at a time
Get most of air out of bag, seal, and duct tape top (if child tends to handle things roughly, though this will mean needing new baggies for every color addition and/or cutting through the duct tape at the top when adding colors)
Allow child to squish foam around to blend colors.
“What happened when you added blue to yellow?”, etc.
Notes:
Consider tying this into local weather lessons.
This is an excellent activity to repeat, once the child understands what colors blend to make other colors. For example, you might have a child observe the clouds at sunset or after a storm or at dawn (If you both are up, bless your heart!). See if the child can come close to replicating the colors and shapes he or she saw.
These activities are presented without assumption of your child’s age or developmental stage. Children grow and develop so quickly during early childhood, but they are still learning how to control their bodies and are taking in enormous information—everything is brand new!
If you try an activity and your child is unable to complete it, relax 😊. That is normal for children. Adjust the activities to your child’s level or do a different activity entirely. Perhaps come back to an activity in 3 or 6 or 12 months and try again.
We cannot emphasize enough that the MOST important part of these activities is exposure and fun—exposure of the child to new ideas and fun with the parent so the child has a long term, enduring idea that learning is a good thing.