Paint Mixer

Hook 5 min

1. "If you only had three paints, could you make every color in this room?" Take guesses about which three.
2. "Artists started with just a few colors. Today you discover how they made the rest."

Explore 15 min

1. On the projector, tap Red, then Yellow. The dabs swirl into orange. "What will happen if we add blue?" Predict first, then try it.
2. Pairs work through the Discoveries list: orange, green, violet, a tertiary color, a tint, a shade, brown and gray. Each one ticks itself off.
3. Pairs save their favorite with Save this swatch, which keeps the recipe too.
4. Point out a surprise: one red and one yellow lean red-orange. "Why does it take more yellow?" (Red is a stronger paint.)

Make sense 8 min

1. Open the Color wheel and turn on the P, S, T labels. "Which colors can't be mixed from others?" (The primaries.) "Why does a tertiary color's name have two parts?" (It's a primary mixed with a secondary.)
2. Turn on Complements. Tap red and find its opposite. "What happens when complements mix?" (Brown or gray.)
3. Open Tints and shades and pick a color. Read the ladder from shade (add black) to tint (add white). Look at the one-color landscape: "How did the artist show near and far?"

Apply 12 min

1. Pairs move to real paint. They mix the same three things: orange, green and one tint. They paint a swatch of each on paper and write the recipe under it.
2. "Was real paint the same as the tool? What was different?"
3. Pairs who finish try a shade, and notice that a little black darkens a lot.

Exit check 5 min

On a card: "How do you make green? How do you make light blue? Name one pair of complements." (Blue and yellow. Blue and white. For example, red and green.) Cards that mix up tints and shades show who needs the ladder again.