Mine Turned Green
“Mine turned green.”
“Hey, mine too!”
This is what was heard when the students in my summer art class were asked to mix a little blue paint with some yellow. A discovery! Green paint! They were very excited by this.
And then came orange. And purple.
My ten girls were delighted to learn about color mixing, along with the characteristics of some of the colors.
– Yellow is wimpy.
– Black takes over.
At the end of one class, I even encouraged them to make “mud.” Just so they could learn how to avoid it in the future.
From 6 to 15, these girls are part of a summer program which caters to disadvantaged kids. I was initially a little worried about the age span, but two things have helped. 1) two great helpers, 2) keeping everything abstract and loose.
We are having a lot of fun!
Ellen Lindner
Bless you! I know the hours of prep you must do to give them an hour of class, but what an enrichment you are providing. Who knows what they will do with what you are teaching them? Keep sharing, I love the updates.
Thanks, Cindy. What’s not to like about mixing paint and working with enthusiastic kids? I’m really enjoying it.
As far as what they’ll do with it in the future, who knows? Although I doubt they’ll need a lot of color mixing, I’m hoping they’re learning that they can do more than they thought, and that they can do things that aren’t immediately obvious.
I’m also stressing that there’s no right or wrong way to make art and I’m encouraging experimentation. (That didn’t take much prompting!)
It’s all good!