COLOR WHEEL

MATERIALS: Paper plates, 2 per student (one for a palette, one for the color wheel) Color wheel templates, cut out and glued onto “uncoated” paper plates (paint adheres best to the “uncoated” plates, and they’re cheaper, too!) Tempera paint: red, yellow, and blue an, and black. Water in small plastic containers Medium size brushes Paper towels Color wheel poster (optional)

Vocabulary: Primary Color – red, yellow, or blue (a color that can’t be created by mixing other colors) Secondary Color – orange, green, or violet (a color created by mixing two primary colors together) Intermediate Color or Tertiary Colors – a color created by mixing a primary color with a secondary color (ex. “yellow-orange”)

PRIMARY COLORS ON A PALETTE 1. Paint a dab of each primary colors on paper plate: red, yellow, and blue. Have students paint along with you as you demonstrate…. GLUE COLOR WHEEL TEMPLATE ONTO PAPER PLATE 2. Turn your color wheel template so that the triangle labeled “yellow” is at the top. Then paint a swatch of yellow along the rim of your paper plate, where the triangle labeled “yellow” is pointing. 3. Rinse your brush and blot any excess water on a paper towel. 4. Paint the red swatch and the blue swatch in the same way, rinsing and blotting your brush each time you change colors. 5. Next, introduce the secondary colors (orange, green, and violet). Mix two primary colors to paint each secondary color in its appropriate place.

INTERMEDIATE OR TERTIARY COLORS 6. Paint an intermediate color between each primary and secondary color. For each intermediate color, mix a primary color with the secondary color next to it. (The name of an intermediate color always begins with its dominant primary color, followed by its secondary color, such as “yellow-orange” or “blue- green”.)