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Sensorial: Colour Mixing

The initial colour mixing lesson can be presented to one child or a group, after which the materials can be made available for children to use on their own. If you’d like to try it at home, here’s what you’ll need:

  • tray
  • eye droppers
  • 3 clear jars (containing food colouring – red, yellow, blue – mixed with water)
  • 3 or 4 small bowls (preferably clear) to mix the colours in
  • bowl/jug for discarded water/colouring
  • sponge

sensorial colour mixing with montessori

Once the apparatus is neatly set up, you’ll demonstrate the lesson without much explanation so that the children are able to articulate the colour changes through observation, and then apply what they’ve seen on their own.

Watch the below tutorial by My Montessori Works to see how colour mixing would be presented in a Montessori classroom:

It really is the lesson that keeps on giving.

Children are practising practical life by engaging their fine motor skills with the eye dropper, they’re developing sensorial skills and expanding their vocabulary. Once they’re familiar with the practical application of the lesson, you can introduce language to explain what they are doing: primary (red, yellow, blue) and secondary (orange, purple, green) colours, and what happens when they’re mixed together.

You could talk about the colours of the rainbow and make a colour wheel as an extension of the lesson. Colour mixing theory can also be applied to paint and other artistic mediums.

Let your child experiment and enjoy the many ways that you can be creative as a family!

If you’d like further information about this tutorial, feel free to contact us at info@saintandrewsmontessori.com. We’re happy to answer any questions.