Teaching Color Theory in Elementary
If the 7 elements of art were a quirky family, color would totally be the golden child. Did I just say that? Oops! As a mom, I shouldn't play favorites, but let's face it, color is the life of the party! It can either make your project shine like a disco ball or flop like a soggy sandwich.
Teaching color should be fun, right? Well, color's like a complicated puzzle, but breaking it down for kiddos is as easy as pie. Here's how I bring color theory to life in the following tips. Stay tuned for links at the end of this post for some easy projects to help you bring color theory into your own art room.
TIP # 1 Start it all off with Roy G. Biv!
Meet Roy G. Biv, the acronym name for the Rainbow Man! I use posters to show that each letter in his name is the start of a color; R is for RED, O is for ORANGE, and so on. I for INDIGO always trips them up, but those who know it are instant art room rock stars! I mean the confidence is real. I usually focus on him for kinders and first graders. For second grade I start with Roy G. Biv and use him as a segue into the color wheel. In case you were wondering, Roy G Biv is not a real person. Just want to be sure we all understand that, because the kids, well, let’s just say they have great imaginations and Roy G Biv seems to be real in their minds!
Another thing to mention to them is that rainbows are actually a real scientific showcase in the sky and that the colors are always in the same order. Seriously, don’t take this info for granted, they usually do not know this! We, as art teachers, get to blow their minds every once in awhile, and this one is one of my favorite ways.
TIP # 2 Take some Cues from the Color Wheel
Roy G. Biv leads right into the color wheel, which is like a rainbow circle! I call it an artist's tool for mastering color. First, I reveal the rainbow order, then dive into primary and secondary colors. Spot red, yellow, and blue (the primary trio) and see the color magic happen between them (the secondaries), like red and yellow making orange. I've got a trusty color wheel on display, and handouts ready for each table group. Just like rainbows in the sky, color wheels never change their order. For our youngest artists, a 6 hued color wheel does the trick, but for those older art aficionados, you can whip out a deluxe version with those more complex tertiary colors. Let’s face it, those are the shades that get the kids buzzing with excitement—lime green, teal, and magenta (which morphs into a fabulous pink). In fact, that’s how Dr. Seuss saw it too, he used the primaries for the books he wrote for the younger ages, and tertiaries for the olders. Compare Cat in the Hat to Oh, the Places You’ll Go, and you will see it plain as day. But the color wheel adventure doesn’t stop there, oh no!
TIP # 3 Lock in on the Complements
Ever wonder why projects turn brown? It's all about mixing colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel, the complementary colors! Red and green make a deep brown, yellow and purple a lighter one, and orange and blue have their very own shade of brown. Think of complementary colors as best friends. Because when best friends and a mud puddle get together, it’s a lot of fun, but everyone is going to be brown by the end! Now, I have nothing against brown, honest I don’t. But when its’ not the color you were going for, brown just disappoints. If I was trying to make lime green on my project, and got brown?, yeah, that’s definitely disappointing.
Besides making brown, the complements have another job, and that is to make each other look good! I turn the word complement into compliment when I talk about these color duos. Want to use colors that look nice and lively together in a project? Just remember this - the colors across from one another “compliment” each other. For example, I might say something like, “Red says to Green, ‘ Hey Green, you are looking snappy today!’ and Green says back ‘ why thank you Red! Your color is good enough for a sunset!”. This just gives the kiddos a fun way to remember to use complementary colors, and the color wheel, when a lively color combination is desired.
TIP # 4 Get Cute with Color Buddies
The word analogous (the colors next to each other on the color wheel) sounds a little fancy, so I call them Color Buddies. Buddies hang out next to each other on the color wheel and blend into new tertiary hues. Yellow and green are pals, mixing into lime green. My fave creation is BLURPLE, a mix of blue and purple. Sure, it's actually blue-violet, but blurple is way more fun to say! Watercolor sets usually follow the rainbow and the color wheel, so it's easy for students to spot Color Buddies.
To take it a little further, sometimes we practice blending color buddies in advance of our projects. It’s very exciting to be able to blend colors, just to blend colors without the stress of having to apply them or not in a project. I like giving the kids a blending opportunity along with a creative challenge. First we blend two colors into one circle. We do this over and over again, getting a variety of colored circles. After they dry, the kids can use black marker to turn the circles into something new. I just love seeing thier ideas come to life and they have so much fun doing this! I call it the “un-project” and it’s a pretty fun day in the art room.
TIP # 5 Make your Art Room a Resource
Paint is a like a colorful playground, but there are other fun ways to play with color. I've got rainbow colored blocks that are great reminders during project downtime. To get some breaks in during projects, we dance to color-themed songs on YouTube. My classroom walls are a color theory fiesta with wheels, blending examples, and Roy G. Biv posters and slides. I even made an interactive color wheel to help students make colorful choices. And like most art teachers, rainbows abound in some way, shape, or form.
TIP # 6 Don’t Underestimate the Value of Shades and Tints
Did you see what I did there with that title? But it is true! If only for one reason, learning how to make pink! A very simple way to see color value is to show Josef Albers Homage to a Square artworks. He layered one hue in shrinking squares. The lighter hues, are the tints, which is made by taking color and mixing it with white. The deeper hues, are the shades which are made by adding black. It’s cool to see how the deeper shades look farther away, and the lighter shades look closer. We cover this is our Winter Scene Collage project, great for 4th grade and up.
Teaching color theory is a blast because kids just soak it up. There are so many ways to accomplish teaching color! Take a look at these projects when you’d like to focus on color theory. We always aim to make our lessons as easy to teach as possible without sacrificing learning. Have fun!