Color

Ask if anyone remembers what kinds of colors we talked about in the last art lesson (warm and cool colors). Review what the colors are and have the children point to instances of them in the classroom. Then tell the children that today we will talk about three colors that are called primary colors. Ask if anyone knows or could guess what the word primary means. Remind them about the word primary in primary school and what that means (the first school). Tell them that there are other words that belong to the same family and sound a bit like primary. Have them think of primer (the first book), the primer coat that you use when you paint a room or house (the first coat of paint), and even a prima ballerina which refers to the first and most important female dancer in a whole dance troupe.

Say: The primary colors are the first colors, the most basic colors that cannot be made by mixing any other colors together. Those colors are red, yellow, and blue. Then have the children repeat after you:

The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. Signal. Repeat.

The primary colors are _____________ Signal. (red, yellow, blue)

Red is a primary color.

What is red? Signal. (Red is a primary color.)

Yellow is a primary color.

What is yellow? Signal. (Yellow is a primary color.)

Blue is a primary color.

What is blue? Signal. (Blue is a primary color.)

Repeat until firm.

Next, say: Let's see what other colors we can make using these primary colors, red, yellow, and blue.

Demonstration

Take the glass container filled with water. Using the eyedropper, put in a few drops of blue and have students take a good look at the color. Slowly add a few drop of yellow, and have them watch to see the color green result. In the second container put a few drops of red; add a few drops of yellow to produce orange. Do the same to produce purple, and finally produce brown.

Discuss the various colors and suggest that the children might want to do this at home with their families in the kitchen, and they can experiment to see how the shade of green would vary, for example, with the amount of yellow they add to the blue.

Have the children repeat after you:

The secondary colors are orange, green and purple. Signal. Repeat.

BCP DRAFT ART 5

First Grade - Visual Arts - Lesson 2 - Color

The secondary colors are ______________ Signal. (orange, green, purple)

Orange is a secondary color.

What is orange? Signal. (Orange is a secondary color.)

Green is a secondary color.

What is green? Signal. (Green is a secondary color.)

Purple is a secondary color.

What is purple? Signal. (Purple is a secondary color.)

Repeat until firm.

Activity

Draw and color a tree.

Procedure

Have the children draw trees and color them. Tell them to think about the colors they will need. Remind them that, since it is September, they have probably noticed that the leaves on some trees have turned yellow, some red, and some brown. Some may still be green. Tell them they have all the colors they need to produce those colors, to think about what they have just learned about mixing primary colors to produce other colors, and then to go ahead and color their trees.

Have the children observe one another's crayoned trees, and discuss the colors they were able to produce using only the three primary colors.