Do you have a colour wheel to teach the children how to mix colours?

Someone recently asked me this question. It is a fair question for a new parent wanting to know what his children would learn in my class. But for a moment I had to think about my answer. Because no, I do not have a colour wheel to teach children how to mix colours.

I replied that I follow the children's interests and if they were interested in mixing colours I could always get one.

But here is what I really wanted to say:

(Of course its always easier to think of the best thing to say later on...)

Children learn about colour theory and colour mixing through active exploration of paints and other media.

Exploration in every sense: touch, feel, smell, taste, look, mix, experiment, paint, splatter, smudge, dilute, saturate, working through trial and error...

You can not learn to be creative by talking about colour. If you only hear someone tell you that blue and yellow mix green you can memorise that knowledge, but if asked to mix brown you wouldn't know how. A child who has been allowed to mix colours repeatedly until the only remaining colour is a murky browney-grey will gain that knowledge naturally through doing, when experience shapes knowledge. And she might even reply by asking what kind of brown you're after: Dark? Light? More grey or more light orange?

So no, I don't have a colour wheel in my studio, I don't 'teach' children about colour or art by working through a lesson plan, lecture or curriculum document.

I teach art through the environment, through materials, through free exploration and by learning and exploring alongside them, filled with wonder. Because I remember being a child myself, I remember the most joyful moments of being left alone with paper and paints and exploring what I could do without having to make something or achieve something through my doing other than the doing.

I teach by expecting the paints to get all mixed up.

By allowing art to be of nothing but enjoyment no matter how old the child.

But – I am present, observing the process. If a child does get frustrated by not getting a colour right or a shape like they imagined I can help with suggestions and encouragement. I am present – to repeatedly remind my young artists that nobody gets it right the first try, that we all practise and try and fail before we get it just like we want. That it's ok to change your mind. That everybody does things differently. That in art there is no right or wrong, good or bad way to do it, there's only your individual way, how you imagined it, what works and what doesn't.

Because art is subjective and personal and all about self-expression.

So mix some colours and be filled with creativity and joy!