Colour mixing for kids feels like magic: two colours go into a bowl and a brand-new colour comes out. On this page your child taps two paint pots from five (red, yellow, blue, white and black) and watches them swirl together in a big bowl. The new colour appears with its name in Hindi and English and a real object of that colour, such as an orange for orange or grapes for purple. In the second game, Which colours?, your child sees a colour and has to find the two pots that make it.
Primary and secondary colours, explained for kids
The primary colours for paint are red, yellow and blue. You cannot make them by mixing other paints. When you mix two primary colours you get a secondary colour:
- Red + yellow = orange (लाल + पीला = नारंगी)
- Blue + yellow = green (नीला + पीला = हरा)
- Red + blue = purple (लाल + नीला = बैंगनी)
White and black change how light or dark a colour is. Adding white makes a tint (red and white make pink, blue and white make light blue) and adding black makes a shade (red and black make dark red). Black and white together make grey.
Colour mixing chart for kids
This chart shows every mix in the game. You can print this page and stick the chart near your child's art corner.
| Mix | Makes | Hindi | Like a... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red + yellow | Orange | नारंगी | orange (santra) |
| Blue + yellow | Green | हरा | leaf |
| Red + blue | Purple | बैंगनी | grapes |
| Red + white | Pink | गुलाबी | flower |
| Blue + white | Light blue | आसमानी | sky |
| Yellow + white | Light yellow | हल्का पीला | banana |
| Black + white | Grey | स्लेटी | elephant |
| Red + black | Dark red | गहरा लाल | apple |
| Blue + black | Dark blue | गहरा नीला | deep sea |
| Yellow + black | Olive green | जैतूनी हरा | olive leaf |
How to play the colour mixing game
Mix colours
Tap one paint pot: the bowl fills with that colour and its name is spoken. Tap a second pot: the two colours swirl into the new colour, a picture appears, and the voice says, for example, "Red and yellow make orange, like an orange!" Tap two new pots to mix again. After your child has found six different mixes, a marble drops into the Goli Jar. If your child taps the same pot twice, Golu explains that the same colours stay the same.
Which colours?
Golu asks, "Which two colours make green?" and shows a green blob with a leaf. Your child taps two pots. If the mix makes a different colour, the bowl shows what they made (so every try teaches something) and Golu says, "Try another pair!" After two tries, the two right pots glow; after three, a hand points to one of them. There is no score and no buzzer, only discovery.
Which colours make green, purple, orange and pink?
These are the questions children and parents ask most. Green comes from blue and yellow. Purple comes from red and blue. Orange comes from red and yellow. Pink comes from red and white. Grey comes from black and white, and brown comes from mixing all three primary colours, or orange with a little blue. Real paint does not always behave perfectly (a bright pink-red and a greenish-blue make a clearer purple than a tomato red and a navy blue), which is a lovely thing to discover together with real paint.
What to expect at each age
- Age 2-3: enjoys squishing and smearing colours; learning the names of red, yellow and blue. Start with the colours name page.
- Age 3-4 (nursery): notices that colours change when mixed; can remember one or two mixes, usually green first.
- Age 4-5 (LKG): predicts the result before mixing ("I think it will be orange!") and names all three secondary colours.
- Age 5-6 (UKG): understands light and dark (tints and shades), sorts primary and secondary colours and can explain a mix to a friend.
Colour mixing activities at home
- Bag squish (no mess). Put a spoon of red and a spoon of yellow paint in a zip bag, seal it with tape and let your child squish it into orange.
- Coloured water. Fill three clear glasses with water and a drop of food colour each. Pour a little of two into an empty glass. This is a real science experiment: predict, test, observe.
- Play-dough marble. Knead a blue ball and a yellow ball together. Stop halfway to see the swirly marble effect, then keep going until it is green.
- Holi and rangoli colours. During Holi or Diwali, talk about how the bright gulal and rangoli powders are made and mixed. Try our rangoli for kids maker afterwards.
- Colour hunt. After playing, find one thing in the house for each secondary colour: an orange, a green leaf, something purple.
Mixing is a science skill as well as an art skill. Asking "What do you think will happen?" before each mix teaches prediction, the first step of the scientific method. Our science for kids page has more simple experiments.
Colour blindness and inclusive tips
About 1 in 12 boys and 1 in 200 girls have some form of colour vision difference, most often trouble telling red from green. Every paint pot and result on this page is also named in words and speech, and each result shows a real object, so children do not rely on colour alone. If your child often confuses red and green, keep it light, and mention it to your paediatrician or eye doctor if you are curious. For children who find mess stressful, the screen game and the sealed bag squish are good mess-free options. Keep screen sessions short and play together, then move to real paint; children under 2 learn colours best from real objects in your hands.
Next, bring the new colours to life on the colouring pages for kids.
