Spinning Color Wheel
Want to help your curious third grader become a color magician? Help him construct a dazzling spinning wheel that will teach him about the science behind colors while providing some silly entertainment!
What You Need:
- White paper
- Hole punch
What You Do:
- Check out the Color Spectrum worksheet as a template for this activity. It has some awesome facts about colors that your child might not be familiar with. Did he know that all the colors together make up white light? If this fact seems too difficult for him to grasp, don't worry! That's what this activity is meant to illustrate!
- Have your child glue the white paper onto the cardboard. Cut out a circle from the cardboard. Make sure the circle is at least six inches in diameter.
- Tell your aspiring scientist to divide the circle into six wedges. Color the wedges in this order: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple.
- Use the hole punch to make two holes in the center of the circle. Thread a three foot piece of yarn through the holes and then tie the yarn into a loop.
- Wind things up. Twirl the yarn like you would turn a jump rope. Once the yarn is tightly twisted, pull your hands apart, then bring them back together. Continue bringing your hands in and out as if you are playing an accordion. If your cardboard is too light, the winder will flop not spin. To fix this issue, take apart the winder and layer the cardboard.
- As the wheel begins to spin faster, watch as the colors begin to blur together. Ask your child what color he sees. Depending on the quality of the marker shades you used, you should see a light grey. The goal, of course, is to see white, but that might take some more experimenting.
Encourage your child to try out some more color combinations on his color wheel. If he tries alternating two primary colors like blue and yellow, what color does he predict will show?