Primary Colour Ice Equations

Today's colour exploration integrated curriculum and ideas from many different areas - math, literacy, science and art. After looking through colour books we invited the children to explore colour mixing with primary coloured ice cubes. 

Children were invited to do some planning before experimenting by using the colour paddles to see which colours were needed to make new ones. 

Once they had an idea, they wrote a colour equation. They recorded how many of each colour of ice cube they were mixing together in their cup. 

Next they added the correct number of cubes to their cups. 

We placed the cups on the light table. The children predicted the heat from the light would help the ice melt. 

We noticed as the ice began to melt the colours pooled at the bottom. 

Some friends thought putting the cups in the sunny window would help melt them faster than the light table. 

We were amazed at the beautiful shades that we created and how different combinations of colours produced different shades. 

Tomorrow we will use the pretty water in an art activity. Stay tuned!

Painting with Frozen Water

We added food colouring to our ice cube trays and froze colourful ice cubes in order to encourage some scientific art making outside in the warm sun. Using a long piece of white paper and the ice cubes, I encouraged my children to spend time 'painting' with the ice. 

They noticed as the warm air melted the ice, the colour was left on the paper. By moving the ice in different ways, the markings on the paper were like those left by a paintbrush or other art making tool.

My children wanted to know why the ice was melting and this lead to a great discussion about the properties of matter and how water can be a solid, liquid, or gas.

 

I was amazed at just how beautiful this artwork was when the kids were finished. The colours bled into one another and created new colours. Coloured ice cubes are fun to paint with, but also great when incorporated into water table play or used for fun in the bath tub!

Melted Crayon Art

The children participated in a very interesting art activity that combined their interests in drawing with their recent observations of things melting. Mrs. Bombardier set up a griddle that was covered in foil and turned on the 'warm' setting. 

The children helped us peel some festive colours of crayons.

With adult supervision, the children were invited to draw on a piece of paper that was placed on the warm surface...as they coloured they noticed the crayons begin to melt!

The children observed that the slower they moved the crayon on the hot surface, the faster it melted.

And the more they coloured, the more wax was left on their paper, creating beautiful textures and the blending of new colours on the surface.

The finished product was a masterpiece of colours, lines, and textures!  As the art cooled and the wax hardened, the children could feel their artwork as well as see it!  Beautiful!

Crayon Melting

We caught the crayon melting fever that's been spreading on early years blogs from around the world! What a great way to integrate science and art together!

We started with a line of neutral crayons hot glued onto a piece of heavy cardboard. Placing this cardboard on the art easel provided a stable place for the cardboard to sit, and was low enough for the children to reach without help.

We had a hairdryer hanging next to the easel that the children could access. We showed them how to turn the hairdryer on and off and how to have it on a low or high setting.



The children realized that when they aimed the hot air from the dryer at the crayons, the heat melted the crayons. Drawing on past experience melting ice, the children came to the conclusion that the crayons were a solid that turned to a liquid when heat was applied.

As the wax melted, the colours mixed together and created beautiful designs. When the heat was not applied, the wax hardened and drip marks were visible on the cardboard.

This is a very messy activity as the wax blows with the hair dryer. The children realized that they could direct the wax if they moved the dryer in a specific way.

 The children also made some wonderful connections between what they saw in the artwork and their past experiences. Many children thought the crayon art looked like fireworks or a sunset.

We tried it the next day with different colours!