Playdough Color Wheels For A Creative Color Mixing Art Lesson For Kids
This hands-on color-mixing activity is perfect for children of all ages. Let children explore colors by creating and mixing a fun playdough color wheel!

We had so much fun making and mixing colors to create color wheels! Finally, give kids permission to mix that playdough up!
Why You Will Love This Art Activity
Supplies you’ll need
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More Notes About Supplies
- We used our easy slow cooker playdough recipe. You can find other homemade playdough recipes here as well.
Vocabulary Words To Teach
- Primary Colors
- Secondary Colors
- Tertiary or Intermediate Colors
How To Make A Playdough Color Wheel
Before You Begin
With a permanent marker, draw out the color wheel. You will need 12 equally (as close as possible) pie-shaped pieces. We labeled them with simple color letters. Use our tips for drawing basic radial symmetry here.
Step 1: Make Primary Colored Playdough
Whether you make your playdough or use store-bought, you must start with yellow, red, and blue colored dough.
We mixed food coloring into the playdough to get the three primary colors. To help keep our hands clean, we started by doing this in a plastic bag.
Step 2: Place The Primary Colors On The Wheel
Kids can fill in the spots on the wheel with red, blue and yellow playdough.
Step 3: Begin Mixing
We found that working with one section of the wheel that used the same colors was easiest. For example, first, the kids mixed orange with yellow and red. Then, they worked on the yellow-orange and red-orange sections before moving on.
Step 4: Continue Mixing For All Colors
Keep working until you have finished your color wheel. Here are the abbreviations and the colors they relate to.
DID YOU KNOW? Officially, intermediate (also known as tertiary colors) list the primary color first and then secondary color. Children always question this since they know they have a violet-red or green-blue crayon!
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Tips
- When making playdough colors with food coloring, your hands must be clean before making a new primary color.
- A little bit of the darker playdough will change the lighter color (for example, a little red into yellow will make a lovely orange).
- Let children experiment with making their colors. This is also super easy and budget-friendly when making your playdough.
- In our opinion, violet is the toughest color to mix—the more vibrant your red and blue, the easier it is to get a color you like. Don’t be a perfectionist when it comes to violet!
More Sensory Fun Art Activities
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- OOBLECK WITH BABY POWDER: How To Make Oobleck Without Cornstarch
- LEAF PRINTING WITH PAINT: Create Gorgeous Leaf Art In Less Than 10 Minutes
We love making these playdough color wheels because they are an interactive way to learn about color mixing! Children will learn a little about the Art Element of color and have a lot of fun finally being allowed to mix the playdough colors.