Materials
Favorite playdough recipe and the ingredients Yellow and blue food coloring
Plastic gloves
Simple color chart
Red paste food coloring (available at cake decorating or craft stores; it will produce the correct color to make orange and purple)
Instructions
1. Mix the playdough according to directions, omitting the food coloring, and divide it into three equal portions. Note: Older children may enjoy making the play dough and adding the color with the teacher. You may use an entire batch of playdough for each color depending on the number of children in your class.
2. Put the plastic gloves on (to prevent coloring hands), and add red paste coloring to one portion of the playdough by kneading the color into the dough.
3. Add blue and yellow food coloring to each of the other playdough portions in the same manner. You will have three portions of playdough: one yellow, one red and one blue.
4. Gather the children at a table and give each child one small piece each of yellow and blue playdough.
5. Encourage the children to mix the colors. As they are working, ask questions to stimulate their thinking and to focus their observation. What is happening as you mix? What is the result?6. Continue with steps 4 and 5 until the children have also mixed yellow and red, and blue and red.
7. Use a simple color chart to check the results.More to doArt: At the easel, have yellow, blue and red paints available for the children to mix. Are the results the same as the playdough experiment?More science: Help the children make a color chart of their own using construction paper, markers or colored glue.
