How to Mix Colors on a Mirror - Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

Last Updated on April 15, 2020 by Sheryl Cooper

During our preschool summer camp, I used our outdoor time to show them how to mix colors on a mirror. I love using mirrors outdoors, and we’ve done other watercolor activities on top of them, such as when we mixed yellow and blue by hand. We have a safety mirror that was once on a stand in the church nursery. I unscrewed the stand so it could lie flat on a surface. It has been used in so many ways! On this sunny morning, it was placed on top of our picnic table.

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What you will need:

Chalk salt (Click here to see how we made our own.)

Liquid watercolors

Pipettes

Note: This was for older preschoolers who do not put things into their mouths. Do not add the salt if you are working with young children who might ingest it. You could just crush the chalk and mix that into the watercolors.

I set cups of liquid watercolors on the mirror along with pipettes. I sprinkled colored chalk salt on the mirror and invited the preschoolers to mix everything.

I love the reflection of the sun through the chalk and watercolors…

The chalk absorbed and mixed the watercolors beautifully.We enjoyed looking at ourselves in the mirror during this process, too.Children would come and go. They’d play, stop and mix colors, and run off to play some more. My favorite kind of activity! Theirs, too!