Colour theory - The colour wheel and mixing

This colour theory activity is a fantastic resource, you can use in your art lessons or at home. The resource includes:

• a colour wheel that illustrates the primary, secondary and tertiary colours,
• a mixing assignment for secondary colours,
• a mixing assignment for tertiary colours,
• a colour wheel template that the pupils can colour in themselves.

What is the colour wheel? A colour wheel is used to show colours and their relationships to each other.

Primary colours are:

• Yellow
• Red
• Blue

Any colour on the colour wheel can be mixed together by mixing these primary colours. Remember, you can´t mix other colours together to create red, blue or yellow.

Secondary colours are made by mixing two primary colours together. Secondary colours are:

• Orange
• Purple
• Green

There are also tertiary colours, which are made by mixing primary and secondary colours together to get:

• Yellow-orange
• Red-orange
• Red-purple
• Blue-purple
• Blue-green
• Yellow-green

Whatever you choose to paint, your pupils will develop their colour knowledge and colour mixing skills using this resource. Have fun and let me know if you have any feedback.

// James