Kindergarten Color Mixing Pumpkins

Kindergarten students have been discovering how to mix colors in art class. Because I like to mix things up, I decided to have one of my groups mix colors to create a pumpkin scene. It excites me that art making can be such a discovery process, not just for the kids, but for me! When I pictured this project in my mind's eye, I thought it would go over really easily, but as things sometimes go, the results weren't exactly as planned. As an art teacher, we really have to roll with the punches. I was convinced that after the kids left, I did not teach the lesson successfully and I didn't believe the kids fully understood the concept of color mixing. Yes, most of the kids painted in the pumpkin they drew, but because I had them draw it so large on the paper, there wasn't much room to practice making green for grass and purple for sky. So, the following week, we talked about texture (another element from our curriculum I was able to incorporate) and made a "texturized" paper using rubbing plates and chubby crayons. As the kids finished with the texture, I walked around and divided the paper in half for them. We then reviewed how to mix colors and I asked the kids to make one half green and one half purple. Wahlaa...instant grass and sky with no hiccups! I then cut out their pumpkins from the previous week and glued it onto their landscape. I really like how all the elements came together in this final form!

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