FREE Valentine's Day: Heart Colouring Mixing | EYFS & KS1 Activity

FREE Early Years (EYFS & KS1) Valentine’s Day Activity: Heart Colour Mixing Investigation

Infuse your Valentine's Day celebrations with a splash of science and art using our delightful FREE Valentine's Day: Heart Colour Mixing activity! These engaging printables are perfect for EYFS and KS1 children, providing a hands-on and visually charming way to explore the fascinating world of colour theory and colour relationships.

Designed with heart outlines, these sheets are ideal for Preschool, Nursery, School, or for Parents and Childminders at home. Each sheet features three blank hearts, setting the stage for exciting colour experiments.

How the experiment works: Children will select a 'first colour' (e.g., white) and a ‘second colour’ (e.g. red) and paint them onto the designated hearts. Then, comes the magic! They'll mix those two colours together and paint the resulting 'mixture colour' (e.g., pink) onto the third heart. You can encourage children to repeat this for various mixtures, such as mixing primary colours (red, yellow, blue) to create secondary colours, or exploring shades by adding white or black. The completed sheets make a beautiful and informative 'Colour Mixing' display!

(Note: Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity suggested on this page and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken.)

• 💡 How to use this resource in your classroom/setting

  Our FREE Valentine's Day: Heart Colour Mixing activity is incredibly versatile and can be used in a multitude of ways across various early years and KS1 environments:

  • Preschool, Nursery & Childminder Settings:

    • Guided Exploration: Provide small pots of primary coloured paints (red, yellow, blue) and guide children through mixing simple combinations. Emphasise the process of observing the colours change.

    • Sensory Experience: Focus on the tactile experience of mixing paints, discussing how they feel and change.

    • Vocabulary: Introduce and repeat terms like 'mix', 'blend', 'primary colours', and the names of the new colours they create.

  • Reception Class (EYFS):

    • Structured Experiment: Encourage children to predict what colour they think they will make before mixing. This fosters early scientific inquiry.

    • Fine Motor Development: The act of painting within the heart outlines and mixing paints helps to refine fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

    • Display Creation: Once dry, combine all the children's sheets to create a colourful and informative 'Valentine's Colour Mixing' display in your art area or on a wall.

  • KS1 Classes (Year 1 & Year 2 School):

    • Scientific Inquiry: Discuss primary and secondary colours more formally. Ask children to record their predictions and actual results. Introduce the concept of tints (adding white) and shades (adding black) specifically with the Valentine's theme (e.g., mixing red and white for pink).

    • Art Theory: Explore how artists use colour to create mood and how different colours relate to each other on a colour wheel (even if not explicitly using a wheel).

    • Written Reflection: Children can write a sentence or two on each sheet describing their experiment: "I mixed red and white, and I made pink!"

• 🎯 Learning objectives covered - 🐣 EYFS Framework

  EYFS Framework:

  • Expressive Arts and Design: Children explore and use a range of media and materials, specifically paint. They experiment with colour, design, and technique, and develop their own ideas through the process of colour mixing.

  • Physical Development (Fine Motor Skills): Holding and manipulating paintbrushes, controlling paint, and mixing colours helps to strengthen hand muscles and refine hand-eye coordination.

  • Understanding the World (The World / Materials): Children observe how materials (paints) change when combined, fostering early scientific thinking and curiosity about materials.

• 🎯 Learning objectives covered - 🐤 KS1 Curriculum

  KS1 Curriculum:

  • Art and Design: Children develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour. They learn to mix colours to create new colours (e.g., primary to secondary, or tints/shades). They use painting to explore their ideas and record their experiences.

  • Science (Working Scientifically / Materials): Children conduct a simple experiment, observe changes, and record results. They explore the properties of materials (paint) and how they can be changed.

  • English (Spoken Language / Writing): Opportunities for children to describe their process, explain their findings, and use new vocabulary (e.g., 'primary', 'secondary', 'tint', 'shade', specific colour names).

Download our FREE Valentine's Day: Heart Colour Mixing activity today and add a vibrant, hands-on twist to your Valentine's celebrations and art lessons!

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