Leaf Decorating and Food Colour Mixing

Date
Teacher Name Courtney Orton 21/11/2017
(DD/MM/YYYY)
Subject Area Science and Art Grade Grade one
Topic Creating Colour, seasonal changes Time 40 min

15 Identify and evaluate methods for creating colour and for applying colours to
General Learner different materials.
Expectation(s) 16 Describe seasonal changes, and interpret the effects of seasonal changes on
living things.
- Component three: Appreciating Art
4. Predict and describe changes in colour that result from the mixing of primary
Specific Learner colours and from mixing a primary colour with white or with black.
Expectation(s) 4. Record observable seasonal changes over a period of time.
- Students will interpret art work literally: colour variation is built on three basic
colours.
Learning Students will be able to:
Objectives 1) Describe observable seasonal changes during fall
2) Describe the changes in colour that result from the mixing of primary colours
Evidence Objective #1 Observe and note students during discussion about changes during
(formative fall.
assessment) Objective #2 Observe students during discussion about which colours mix to
create new colours and collect the food coloured dyed leaves.
4 food colours (red, yellow, green and blue)
Water
4 containers
Pipettes
Materials Water fabric leaves (17)
Diluted jars of food colouring set up at each colour group
Paper towel
Small desk at the front of the room for display
Resources:
Topic A Creating Colour Grade 1 by Edmonton Public School
Introduction - Ask students to put everything away off their desk and put the caddies away
(10 min) - Ask for attention with give me five and dont start until everyone is looking and
not touching anything else
- Show students the example leaves that were already made and focus on how
some of the colours are brighter and some are duller and order the leaves from
brightest to dullest. This is a continuation of yesterdays lesson.
- Explain how when you add more water to the food colouring it dilutes it and the
colours become duller and less bright.
- Ask students what season do all the leaves fall off the trees? Fall
- Ask what colours the leaves change to? They go from green to yellow, orange,
brown
- Ask what texture the leaves are when they are brown? Crunchy and break easily
 - Explain to students that we created this seasonal bulletin board and we will be
adding these leaves to the fall portion of our board.

Directions for mixing food colouring colours/ mini-lecture -

- Teacher Actions
oExplain to the students that we are going to each be making a leave but before
we have to learn how to use a pipet
Demonstrate (with water)
How to draw liquid up the pipet
How to release the liquid from the pipet
How to release one drop of the liquid
Remind the students that:
Scientists work slowly and carefully
Scientist work quietly so they can listen to instructions
If there is a spill or an accident they tell the teacher
oExplain that each colour group will have a colour on their desk and we are
going to rotate so everyone gets all the colours. We will have a timer and listen
for when I say we are going to switch groups
oExplain that if they put to many drops of one colour there isnt room for the
Mixing Food other colours so only put 5 drops of each food colouring onto your leave
Colouring oThe students are expected to keep a paper towel underneath their leaf at all
(23 min) times so colouring does not get on the desks. If they dont, they might not get
to continue the activity
oStudents have to be careful and do not get the colouring on your clothes or
else your parents will get mad and we cant do these fun colouring mixing
activities anymore.
oAsk the tables one at a time to go grab the kind of leaf they want and a paper
towel. Remind students they need to keep the paper towel underneath their
leaf. Tell students to write their name on the back of the leaf and once the
group has their name I will hand out the colours
oSet up the diluted colours at the center of each colour group and start once
the whole group has their name of their leaf
oGive enough time that each student gets to add drops to their leaf and then
rotate through the groups. Approx. 2 min
- Transition Details
o After all the groups have rotated through ask the students to put their leaf
while it is on the paper towel and put it on the front table.
o Ask students to sit back on the carpet
When the students are on the carpet bring over some of the leaves with the best
colour mixing.
Notice how we only used 4 colours (red, yellow, green and blue) but we also see
Closure
some orange, and purple too.
(7 min)
Also notice how when you dilute the colors they are less bright than when you
use just food colouring.

Reflection Write on board the instructions, so students know what is expected and the order
we will go in.
1. Demonstration
 2. Get leaf and paper towel
3. Names
4. Rotation
5. Collect Leaves
This was a fun but messy activity! It requires a lot of preparation and you have to
make sure that every student understands what is expected. It was also very quick.
It was best not to leave students at a table for too long or else they would add too
much of each colour. Some students had white spots on their leave and the
students who needed more time were pulled out one by one to finish touch ups
during free centers. During closure the students were very observant about which
colours mix to create new colours. It was a very good activity to introduce colour
mixing. I would only use primary colours next time but because we have four table
groups it was best that every table had a different colour. This lesson plan
integrated colours (mixing colours and lighter and brighter) and seasonal changes.