Included in our Baker Ross  parcel  was a box of acrylic paints. I use acrylics for my painting and find that one of the key components to painting is mixing the right colours.  I therefore thought it might be a good opportunity for the girls to experiment with colour mixing.

I provided them each with 2 pieces of tin foil, one had a blob of each of the acrylic colours on and the other was for mixing.   I avoided giving instructions about what to paint or even that they had to paint at all.  Often young children enjoy the process of mixing and don’t really want  to paint with the colours.  My 3 year old used up most of the colours mixing them into various shades.  I explained that acrylics dry quickly so once the colours are mixed they need to be used quickly for painting

My 7 year old on the other hand carefully mixed a variety of colours, trying out the different combinations.  I gave them a pot of water each to clean their brush and kitchen roll to mop up any excess water.

She proceeded to paint a picture.  Half way through she ran out of one of the colours that she had mixed and was unsure what to do next.  I explained that the new colour wouldn’t need to be exactly the same   as the good thing about acrylics is that you can layer one colour on top of the other.  She mixed another colour and came up with a pretty good match.

Finished Results