Mixing Food Coloring: Blue and Yellow

Mix two colors of water—what happens?

Key Science Concepts

A single color can have different shades, from very light to very dark.
Two or more colors can be combined to make a new color.
Diluting colored water with clear water creates a lighter shade of the same color.

Vocabulary

Encourage children to use color names, as well as action words such as dilute and mix; and science process words such as describe, change, compare, dilute, observe, and predict. As they mix these colors, they may come up with names that reflect their observations, such as yellowish green or blue-ish green.

Materials and Preparation

food coloring: add blue food coloring to one bottle of water and yellow food coloring to another bottle of water
for each child: an ice cube tray, a cup of clear water, and two eyedroppers (one for each color)
paper towels or coffee filters (optional)

Directions

Tell children they will explore mixing two colors of water. Ask them to predict what color will result, and why they predict that.

Put the two colors of water into two different compartments at opposite ends of each child’s tray.
Invite children to create different colors in their ice cube trays by using the eyedroppers to move drops of both colors into one compartment and watch the colors mix. As children work, ask:
- What happened? How did the color change?
- How did you make that color? How much (yellow) did you use?
- Do you have any colors that are exactly the same? How are these two colors different?

If they want, children can also add clear water to a compartment—a little bit or a lot.

Reflect and Share

Talk about what children discovered in their color-mixing explorations. Have one or more of the ice cube trays containing the mixed-color water nearby so children can demonstrate their ideas.