Colour Theory with Squishy Bags

These squishy bags are a great, mess free way to experiment with mixing colours ad colour theory. After we’d finished experimenting making different colours we put a sheet of card inside each paint filled bag, sealed them up again and used them to practice forming letters and numbers with our fingers.

Here at Science Sparks we’re trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use, so do wash out the bags and save for another activity once you’ve finished.

Materials

Small sealable plastic sandwich bags

Red, yellow and blue washable paint

Small sheets of cardboard/stock

Instructions

Place a two small blobs of different coloured paint into each bag.

Carefully seal the bag and gently squish the colours together until they mix. You should find:

Yellow + Blue = Green

Red + Yellow = Orange

Blue + Red = Purple

Once you’ve finished experimenting place a small sheet of card inside each bag and carefully seal it up again.

Try writing letters and numbers on the surface of your bag, wipe the surface clean and then try again.

Mixing colours – why does this work?

What are primary colours?

Primary colours cannot be created by mixing other colours together.

Red, Yellow and Blue

Secondary colours are made by mixing primary colours.

Tertiary colours are made by mixing a primary colour with a secondary colour.

Always supervise small children when using paint and plastic bags