How many of you have bought those cool watercolors in the
box for your young children? Who remembers painting watercolors with the metal
Prang watercolors? We can still buy the Prang watercolors but they will stain
clothes. Crayola has better watercolors for young children and Sargeants can be
found also.
Did anyone have a classroom teacher say not to mix the
colors? I know they do and I understand why they say it. If the children aren’t
taught good brush handling skills, they will dip the bush into every single
solitary color in the watercolor box. What happens? The colors are no longer
clean but muddy or even black! If the
children are taught how to use the brush, eventually good brush painting skills
will be a habit.
I found the best way for me to teach good brush painting
skills was at the beginning of the school year. I would give the children a dry
brush and a cup of water and a sponge. We would practice dipping the brush into
the water and drying it on the sponge. Next we would pretend paint in the air,
dip in the water, swish the brush to clean, dry it on the sponge, and pretend
to dip the brush in the paint.
After practicing we would then paint with our watercolors. The
following is a photograph of my granddaughter painting with her watercolors. She
is mixing her colors on her watercolor paper.
This photo is her painting almost finished!
Another method for teaching children not to mix up the
colors is by teaching them how to make colors through the color wheel. I will
post more on this subject again. Mizz Mac
For more of Mizz Mac’s lessons or projects, check out her
store on www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams.
