Kayla Taylor

School of Education
The College of New Jersey
Science Demonstration

Learning Colors with Walking Water – Preschool/Kindergarten

Demonstration Essential Question: What happens when we mix colors together?

Standards: Using NJ Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards (2014)

a. (5.1.P .A.1) Display curiosity about science objects, materials, activities, and
longer-term investigations in progress (e.g., ask who, what, when, where, why, and
how questions during sensory explorations, experimentation, and focused inquiry).
b. (5.1.P .B.1) Observe, question, predict, and investigate materials, objects,
and phenomena during classroom activities indoors and outdoors and
during any longer-term investigations in progress. Seek answers to
questions and test predictions using simple experiments or research media
(e.g., cracking a nut to look inside; putting a toy car in water to determine
whether it sinks).

Objectives/Assessments:
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to identify what
colors can be made by mixing primary
colors.
Assessments
Students will predict what colors will
be made during the experiment, then
they will determine what colors were
actually made and identify them on
their own using a worksheet.

Materials: Paper towels, clear plastic cups, food coloring (red, yellow, and blue), hot
water, pre-made worksheet, crayons

Lesson Beginning: Teacher: “What are your favorite colors? Allow them to answer.
Explain that today we are going to learn how some of these colors are made using
science- “Today we are going to use a science experiment to determine what happens
when we mix colors together.”

Instructional Plan/Questions:
1. Set up the cups (before the lesson): Put six cups in a circle. Fold paper towel
sheets into 1-2 inch strips, fold them in half to shorten them, and set them aside.
Fill three cups with hot water; it should be every other cup that is filled. Leave the
other three cups empty. The pattern should be a cup filled, a cup empty, a cup
filled, ect. Add food dye to the cups with water; one red, one blue, and one
yellow.
2. Explain today’s lesson- “Today we are going to use a science experiment to
determine what happens when we mix colors together. We have one cup with red,
 one with blue, and one with yellow. We are going to find out what color red and
blue makes, what color yellow and red makes, and what color blue and yellow
makes.”
3. Set up the cups (with the children): Place the paper towel strips into the cups so
that one half of the strip is in a color-filled cup and the other half is in an empty
cup. (“The paper towels will serve as the water’s sidewalk from one cup to the
other and the two colors will combine in the empty cup in between them.” Allow
a half hour to 45 minutes for the cups to sit (1 minute).
4. Ask the students their favorite color and allow time for them to answer. Then ask,
“If you needed that color but did not have it, how could you make it with
other colors?” (1-2 minutes).
5. Pass out the worksheet and have the children write their names (1 minute).
6. “Now we have given our water enough time to walk to its new home, it walks
very slowly. Let’s look at what the red and blue made.” Point to the cup that is in
between red and blue. Ask the children what color they see. Have them record it
on their worksheets. Repeat for blue and yellow, and again for yellow and red (4-
5 minutes).
7. To close the lesson, ask the children to brainstorm what some other colors
could be made using two colors, but specify that it does not have to be from
the colors we used today. Allow them time to think and then call on students
who are comfortable sharing. Collect the worksheets (2-3 minutes).
**Open-ended questions listed throughout the instructional plan. Bolded for
reference.

References:
http://www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com/walking-water-science-experiment-kids/