‘Mix It Up!’ Colour Exploration Kit

Yesterday, as Miss G and I were reading two of our favourite Hervé Tullet books {Press Here and Mix It Up!}, I was suddenly reminded of the fun colour exploration kit we put together months ago for one of Grae’s little friends.  It was nearing the end of our time in Kuwait, so things were crazy with our upcoming international move and me being deep in the throws of early pregnancy sickness/exhaustion, so I never got around to sharing it, but after hearing Grae talk about it so excitedly yesterday afternoon, I think we may just have to whip up a similar kit for her to enjoy this weekend.

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If you’ve not yet read Mix It Up!, I’d highly recommend getting your hands on a copy.  Like many of Hervé Tullet’s books, it’s super fun and interactive, requiring little readers to complete some sort of action on each page.  And as you can probably guess, it’s all about colour mixing, which is pretty awesome all on it’s own!

Anyways, because we had recently hosted a colour-themed preschool co-op meet-up at our house and seen firsthand how much Grae’s friend enjoyed our colour mixing activities, we decided that a copy of Mix It Up! and a kit full of fun colour mixing materials would make for a perfect gift. To put it together, we first popped by IKEA and picked up a GLIS container {our favourite for play dough kits!}, then by MUJI to collect a bunch of small, clear containers {though Daiso and dollar stores may also be a good place to find them}.  Then we began filling them up!

First off, we filled these three mini spray bottles with homemade watercolours in the three primary colours – red, yellow, and blue.  If we had been in Canada, we would have probably used the Sax liquid watercolours we’ve come to love, but because they’re not available in Kuwait, we simply mixed water with a hefty dose of Wilton gel colourings and shook well.

Next, we filled our squeeze containers with red, yellow, and blue vinegar {also dyed with Wilton gel colourings} and our biggest container with baking soda {or sodium bicarbonate on the other side of the world}.

Also included in our kit was primary-coloured finger paints…

And some homemade no-cook play dough too!

Before packing everything up, I added some little labels I made using dot stickers…

And then we strategically placed everything inside our GLIS container, including some plastic droppers and a stack of thick paper towels too.

While I did think about including some possible activity ideas in the kit too, I decided to skip it because a) the recipient of the gift has a very creative mama and b) because I often think that children come up with the best ideas all on their own – sans parent direction.  That being said, if you like the idea of a colour exploration kit but have no idea what can be done with it, here are a few ideas:

Baking soda and coloured vinegar:
moon painting, magic potion station, colour theory eruptions

Water colours, paper towel, and droppers:
walking water experiment, paper towel butterflies, paper towel dip activity, dropper painting

Homemade play dough:
colour theory balls, no-mess colour wheel

Finger paints:
squishy paint art, primary colours squishy bag experiment, paper plate colour wheel, handprint colour mixing, colour theory circle art

Before giving our gift to the birthday boy, we created a little name plate and stuck in the book…

Then simply tied everything together with baker’s twine.  Done!

 

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