How to paint a color wheel art lesson for children

In this color wheel art lesson for children we’ll learn how to paint a color wheel using only the primary colors. We’ll learn the rules of color theory to turn red, yellow and blue into the full rainbow of colors in the color wheel. Plus: get a printable set of color theory worksheets.

How to paint a color wheel art lesson for children

This ‘how to paint a color wheel’ art lesson for children is part of our color theory lessons curriculum within our art lessons and craft activities for children.

In this lesson you can:

:: paint your own color wheel using only the primary colors of red, blue and yellow paint

:: learn how to mix primary colors to make secondary and tertiary colors

:: get more ready-made color theory art lessons to teach your children about the color wheel

You might use this lesson:

:: as a teaching lesson along with the others in our Color Theory Art Lessons curriculum

:: as an activity for children to review and consolidate what they have learned in the Color Theory curriculum

:: as a homework activity for children to complete

:: as a ‘quiz’ or end of term assessment

:: with the completed color wheel and color theory chart as evidence of learning in your children’s portfolios, as reference guides for future art projects, and as posters or anchor charts for your classroom

Get all our Color Theory art lesson plans

The best way to teach color theory to your children is to use our ready-made Color Theory Art Lesson Plans. Our Color Theory curriculum gives you all the resources you need to learn about the color wheel and color theory with easy and fun art projects for every lesson.

The kit includes includes art history guides, famous artist profiles, and wider cross-curricular lessons in science, math, language arts and world culture, plus bonus printables and posters to make your teaching even easier.

See more details of our Color Theory curriculum and get your copy here.

Color wheel art projects

In our Color Theory curriculum we learn about the color wheel, pairing academic learning with creative, hands-on art projects. We learn color theory about:

:: primary colors
:: secondary colors
:: tertiary colors
:: warm and cool colors
:: contrasting / complementary colors
:: monochrome colors
:: tints, tones and shades of colors

What is color?

In our Color Theory curriculum we also learn that color is light. We learn that light is made of different waves, and how long and short waves make different colors. In our cross-curricular STEAM approach, we learn about color both as artists and scientists.

How do we see color?

Do you know how eyes work? Do you think everyone sees color in the same way? Can everyone see all colors? And do things that appear red to you, for example, also look the same color to everyone else?

You can find out the answers and learn how our eyes and our brain work together to see in our Color Theory curriculum.

Color theory art projects for children

Did you know that scientists think that most people can see about a million different colors? Alongside learning about the science of color we also enjoy a wide range of color theory art projects in the Color Theory curriculum, so your children are engaged with creative, hands-on learning, including:

:: A collage project inspired by Piet Mondrian, working with primary colors – with the option to include math in the project too.

:: A rainbow pointillism project mixing primary colours to make secondary colors, inspired by Georges Seurat.

:: A disco ball art project using marker pens in warm and cool colors inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Alma Woodsey Thomas.

:: A project in contrasting colors inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, using oil pastels, pencils or colored pencils.

:: A monochrome painting project inspired by James McNeill Whistler, mixing tints, tones and shades.

:: And consolidation projects, making our own color wheel and color theory reference chart to recap our studies and showcase what we have learned.

See more details and get a copy of the full Color Theory Lesson Plans here.

Materials needed to paint your own color wheel

Let’s make our own color wheel, following the color theory principles.

We’ll use only red, yellow and blue primary-colored paint to begin and we’ll mix all the other colors needed, following the color theory principles.

Materials needed:

:: color wheel printable (which you can get from our Color Theory Art Lessons kit)

:: red, blue and yellow paint

Add the primary colors to your color wheel

Begin by painting the primary color sectors, evenly spaced around the wheel: red, yellow and blue.

You can learn more about primary colors in our Piet-Mondrian inspired lesson.

How to mix secondary colors

Then paint the secondary color sectors, evenly placed between each primary colour: orange, green and purple.

Mix equal amounts of two primary colors to make the secondary colors, as follows:

Add the secondary colors to the color wheel

Red and yellow = orange

Yellow and blue = green

Blue and red = purple

You can learn more about secondary colors in our Georges Seurat-inspired art lesson.

How to mix tertiary colors

Then paint the tertiary color sectors: vermillion, amber, chartreuse, teal, violet, magenta.

Mix equal amounts of a primary color and a secondary color to make the tertiary colors.

Add the tertiary colors to your color wheel

Red and orange = vermillion

Red and purple = magenta

Yellow and orange = amber

Yellow and green = chartreuse

Blue and green = teal

Blue and purple = violet

Color groups art worksheet

Re-cap more of your learning about color theory by using our color groups worksheet. You can use this as a reference guide for future artworks, as a poster in your classroom, or include it in your art portfolio.

You will find the Color Wheel template and the Color Groups worksheet, along with more useful color theory printables that you can use in your lessons, for homework activities, or as part of your children’s portfolios, in our Colour Theory Lesson Plans kit.

Get all our Color Theory art lesson plans and printables

Use our ready-made Color Theory Art Lesson Plans to explore more aspects of the color wheel through creative art projects. Our Color Theory curriculum gives you all the resources you need to learn about the color wheel and color theory and enjoy easy and fun art projects for every lesson, including the printables used in this pointillism lesson.

The kit also includes art history guides, famous artist profiles, and wider cross-curricular lessons in science, math, language arts and world culture, plus bonus printables and posters to make your teaching even easier.

See more details of our Color Theory curriculum and get your copy here.