Hello Stuff Parents Need readers! I’m Desi and I blog at a little slice of the world called Wee Share. I am thrilled to be spending a little time here with you all and Tiffany. She is my oldest blogging buddy, so it really is an honor.

This summer, we have spent a lot of time learning about colors. Raileigh has known all of her colors for a while now. So, I began teaching her about primary colors, and how they combine to create secondary colors.

We have done lots of fun activities to illustrate this principle. Today I am going to share one of our favorites with you! This activity works best on a sunny day.

Supplies You’ll Need:

• 3 Ice Cube Trays
• 3 Mixing Bowls
• 3 Mixing Spoons (wooden spoons not recommended)
• Food Coloring
• Water
• Toothpick
• Gloves
• Old Towel (or something else to cover and protect your counter)

Instructions

Day 1

1. You will want to start by filling each of your ice cube trays with water. Don’t fill quite all the way to the top.

2. Now, you can add the food coloring. In one ice cube tray, make half of the cubes red and half of them blue. Tray 2 should contain half red and half yellow. The last tray will be half yellow and half blue. We put 4-5 drops of food coloring in each ice cube slot. You’ll want vibrant, bright ice cubes for this activity!

3. Use a toothpick to mix the color up with the water in each ice cube slot.

4. Put the ice cube trays in your freezer to harden.

Day 2

1. The ice cube trays should be frozen by now. So, remove them from the freezer and get ready to have some fun!

2. Put your gloves on. I didn’t and my hands became very colorful. If you like colorful hands, then go ahead and omit the gloves.

3. Get out your 3 mixing bowls. Pop the cubes from each tray into a bowl. You’ll have red and yellow in one bowl, red and blue in another bowl, and blue and yellow in the last bowl.

4. Head outside with your bowls of ice. Also bring along the mixing spoons.

5. As the sun began to melt the ice cubes, Raileigh enjoyed mixing the cubes and swirling them around with a spoon.

6. Depending on how sunny and hot it is, the melting process may take a few hours. So, you can either stay watch the cubes melt and play with them as this occurs. Or, you can go about your business, checking in periodically to see how the cubes have melted, and the two colors have merged together to form a NEW color!

This was a really fun, inexpensive way to demonstrate secondary colors and color mixing to Raileigh. She has asked to do this activity time and time again. I don’t mind because it costs virtually nothing, entertains her, and is educational. You can’t beat that!