Third Grade Color Theory with Kandinsky



     Our third grade artists had a bigger color theory experience with these paintings than they've previously had.  We often talk about the primary colors, or warm and cool colors, but we don't often look at all of the main color families at the same time like we did for these paintings.  After learning about the importance of color choice to abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky, we learned a lot about the color wheel. 

     The students were challenged to create tempera paintings with blocks of primary colors, secondary colors, warm colors, cool colors, complimentary colors, tinted colors, shaded colors, and one free choice colors block!  In their blocks, students painted circles or parts of circles and completed their paintings with metallic tempera details.  Because the students were all using the same colors in their artworks, they were encouraged to add design elements that would make their painting look unique and like no one else's.
     Can you identify all of the color families??



Primary: red, yellow, blue

Secondary: orange, purple, green

Warm: yellow, orange, red

Cool: blue, purple, green

Complimentary: red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange

Tint: when white is mixed in to any color

Shade: when black is mixed in to any color