Color Zebras

This project focused fourth graders on the color wheel.  They practiced mixing to make their own zebra colors.  I use a special paint tray liner that shows kids how to setup their paint tray so that it is organized and easy to repeatedly do their own mixing.  Another fun and educational Pinterest idea!

Here are some other color mixing procedures/concepts that I teach all of my classes:
- Use the crust: Take paint from the very edge of the puddle when using it for mixing so that you don't contaminate the color in the middle with a dirty brush.
- Use the ratio 2:1: Two parts of the light color (ie yellow) and one part dark (ie blue) will get you a pretty good secondary mix (green).
- Wrestlers: To illustrate the importance of the above ratio I explain it with a wrestler analogy.  Dark paint is like a heavy weight wrestler. You need two light weights to have an even match.  If you use too much dark paint it overpowers the light paint and it is way too hard to get the color back to what you want.  It is always smart to use just a dab of the dark and slowly add more if you want.  
- Color Equations: On the board, we apply the above ratio concept.  On review days, I leave out parts of the equations and ask students to solve them!
2Y + 1R = 3O
2Y + 1B = 3G
2R + 1B = 3V
(Bonus: 2B + 1R = 3P)

Learning Goals: I can...
- Use primary colors to make secondary colors
- Use color mixing procedures
- Paint carefully
- Balance colors
- Use an alternating pattern