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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!

color wheels made from playdough on paper plates on a table.

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


  • KID FRIENDLY – The examples in this post were made by 5 to 10-year-olds.
  • ALLOWS FOR DISCOVERY – Teachers and parents can help guide children, but they should also allow them to test out color-mixing theories independently.
  • TIME-SAVING OPTION – It is cheaper to make your playdough, but this color wheel art idea can also be made with store-bought Play-Doh.
  • MODIFY THE LESSON – To make this activity easier, you can also complete it by creating only a primary and secondary color wheel.

Supplies you’ll need

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  • Playdough*
  • Small Paper Plate
  • Permanent Marker
  • Color Wheel Reference Card (optional)
color wheel card, bowl of playdough, with plates and food coloring on the table.

More Notes About Supplies

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.

4 images showing how to mix homemade playdough colors.

Step 2: Place The Primary Colors On The Wheel

Kids can fill in the spots on the wheel with red, blue and yellow playdough.

red, yellow and blue playdough on a plate.

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.

two hand from kids mixing playdough to make playdough color wheels.

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.

  • Y=Yellow O=Orange YO=Yellow-Orange
  • B=Blue BV=Blue-Violet
  • R=Red RO=Red-Orange RV=Red-Violet
  • G=Green BG=Blue-Green

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!

color wheel made from playdough on a plate.

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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

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.

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