Everyone loves the color Purple!

By: Julie Goldstein

This week up in The Studio, the children learned all about the color purple. We mixed red and blue and added white to create a variety of shades. We discussed how adding white to a color would make it lighter and when there is a variety of shades and tints, we describe this as a “color family”. They observed purple flowers as inspiration and painted away. Some children painted flowers and others created shapes, lines, and textures. They learned to mix colors directly onto their paintings and got very inspired by nature!

Materials

• Red, Blue, White (pre-mixed purple and light blue) tempera paint
• Paintbrushes
• Mixing trays (or egg cartons)
• White paper
• Purple flowers
• Mirror (to show a reflection)

Instruction

1. Discuss the color purple “Where do you see purple in nature?”  “What two colors create the color purple?”
2. Demonstrate how to mix the color purple. “What might happen if I add white to the color purple?”
3. “What do you notice that is purple on the table?” “Where do you notice light purple/dark purple?”
4. Demonstrate painting from observation. “How might I create the textures of the flowers?” Maybe your painting turns into a design or something else that inspires you.
5. Have Fun!

**Re-enforce mixing colors directly onto the paper rather than cleaning the brush each time.
**After they are finished painting, turn the brush around and draw into the paintings (they love this step!)