Color Wheel

Description

We will explore color theory by building a color wheel with materials around the house!

Optional: Watch Color Theory Basics by Simple Art Tips on YouTube before starting.

If you prefer a printable version of this challenge be sure to check out the linked PDF in the Materials tab.

Materials

• You’ll create a color wheel using materials found around the house!
• If you can, avoid using crayons/markers and look for more unique items

Project Steps

Step 1

We break the color wheel into different sections to show the relationship between colors. We will always see our primary colors, red, blue and yellow.

Search around your house to find red, blue and yellow objects! Remember, crayons/markers/paint don’t count!

Step 2

Our secondary colors are those that are in between red and blue, red and yellow, and blue and yellow, also known as violet, orange and green.

Search around again for violet, orange and green objects!

Step 3

Tertiary colors are a combination of secondary colors. These are red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet. Giving us 12 distinct colors!

Can you find objects in the tertiary colors around your home?

Step 4

You should have found 12 colorful objects! Arrange them in color-wheel order.

Step 5

There’s more we can do with a color wheel!

Complementary colors are colors sitting across from each other, like red and green. What is another example?

Step 6

Analogous colors are 2-4 colors next to each other on the color wheel. Like green, blue-green and blue or red and red-orange.

Step 7

Triadic colors are 3 colors evenly spaced around the color wheel. For example, red, yellow and blue or blue-violet, red-orange, and yellow-green.

Step 8

Using your objects, simulate complementary, analogous and triadic colors and snap a few pictures!

Discussion Questions

Here are discussion questions connected to this project. Try to research or figure out the answer yourself first. Click the arrow to reveal the answer!

Sharing Your Project

Once you’re done, you can share a picture of your project! This is completely optional. We’ll be using these photos to create a project gallery. If you’re interested, please fill out the following form and upload a photo of your completed project.

To share your project, head to https://dhf.io/shareproject and fill out the form!

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