Color Theory in Spanish

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I love doing hands-on activities with my students when I can. We speak in Spanish as we go through whatever task we are doing. I recently had one of the moms of some of my students loan me a book that goes really well with reviewing colors and even getting into color theory a bit. Como Nacio El Arco Iris by Alma Flor Ada is a fable about how the rainbow came to be. In the story Azul, Rojo, and Amarillo get together to paint the world (which is only black, white, and gray). In the process they begin to mix their colors to get new ones. What I like about this story is that it is more involved and can be used with older kids. In the past I have used Pinta ratones when doing color mixing activities, but really that book is for the younger crowd.

I use this free printable from Mama Jenn to do our color mixing. We start out with the simple color wheel that has only the primary and secondary colors and then move onto the more advanced one. Here is some vocabulary you can use with your students as you do the activity...

First check out this color wheel in Spanish that gives all the color names even the tertiary ones. Here is another color wheel with vocabulary that is slightly different.

Mezclar – to mix

Primario – primary

Secundario – secondary

Terciario – tertiary

Las gotas – water drops (part of the color mixing activity)

Colores fríos – cool colors

Colores cálidos – warm colors

My students loved doing the color mixing after reading the book! 

And finally, here is another one of my posts on color activities for younger students in case you work more with early elementary kids.