Lesson plan Kindergarten Art & Music
Mixing Muddy Water Paint for the Speedwell Marsh Mural
A 45-minute kindergarten art lesson where children mix blue paint with brown and with white, paint two halves of a marsh mural, and dictate which half a frog would pick.
Objectives
- Students will mix blue paint with brown to make a muddy color and blue with white to make a clear-looking color.
- Students will paint their mixed color into the correct half of a shared class mural.
- Students will state a preference about the two waters and give one reason for it.
Vocabulary
Key words: mix, muddy, marsh, cattail
Teacher overview
Color mixing is often the first studio skill kindergartners learn, and it holds attention better when the two colors stand for something. In this lesson blue plus brown makes the water at the muddy end of Speedwell Marsh, while blue plus white makes the water at the clean end. The difference between the two mixtures is visible from across the room.
The class paints one long mural in two halves. Everyone mixes both colors on a shared tray, so each child handles both waters before either one goes on the mural. At the end each child adds a paper frog to the half they would choose and dictates a reason, which gives you an opinion-writing sample and a way to check whether the idea came through.
Mix a small batch yourself first. Brown overwhelms blue quickly, so a good ratio is roughly one stir of brown into a puddle of blue rather than equal amounts.
Procedure
Minutes 0-7 - Two ends of the marsh. Read aloud: "A marsh is a wet place with tall grass. Frogs live there. At one end the water is clear. At the other end the water is brown and muddy. Trash and dirt washed in from the road." Ask what a frog might think about each end. Take four answers without judging any of them.
Minutes 7-15 - Making the muddy color. Seat children in pairs with one mixing tray. Put a spoon of blue on each tray. Model adding one small dab of brown and stirring with the craft stick, then hold the tray up so the class sees the change. Children mix their own. Ask the class to name the new color in their own words, and accept muddy, dirty, swampy, or brown-blue.
Minutes 15-27 - Painting the muddy half. Half the class paints the left end of the butcher paper with the muddy mixture while the other half glues green cattail strips along the edge. Then the groups switch jobs. Coach long side-to-side strokes and full coverage rather than careful detail, because a mural wants a solid field of color.
Minutes 27-38 - Making and painting the clear half. Wash the trays. Put fresh blue on each tray and model adding white, one dab at a time, until the color turns light. Children mix, then paint the right end of the mural. Stop the class once and ask everyone to point to the muddy end and then the clear end. This is the formative check, and any child pointing the wrong way stands beside you at the mural for a second look while the others finish.
Minutes 38-45 - Frogs and reasons. Each child colors a small paper frog and glues it onto the half of the mural they would choose for it. While gluing, they dictate a sentence, or write one if able, on a card beside the frog. Useful starters are "My frog likes" and "I picked this water because." Read five cards aloud and count the frogs on each end as a closing.
Student Handout
No printed page is needed. Post this mixing chart at the paint table as three sample circles painted on card stock.
Circle One. Plain blue, straight from the jar, labeled with a blue dot.
Circle Two. Blue with one dab of brown stirred in, the muddy end of the marsh.
Circle Three. Blue with white stirred in until light, the clear end of the marsh.
Frog card. A small blank card for the paper frog, with a line beneath it for the dictated sentence.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Pre-mix one tray of each color and set it beside the child's own tray as a target to match, so the child can stop stirring when the two look alike. Children who tire quickly can paint with a small sponge instead of a brush, which covers the paper faster and keeps them working with the group.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask the child to mix a third color for the middle of the marsh, halfway between the muddy end and the clear end, and to say what makes it different from both. These children can also write their own reason sentence and add the word because without a starter.
ELL supports
Teach the verb mix with the craft stick in hand, stirring while saying the word, and repeat it each time the class stirs. Pair muddy with a real spoonful of soil in a clear cup of water, which needs no translation. Accept dictated reasons in the home language, then write the English words clean and muddy on the card together with the child.
Extensions
Leave two clear jars on the science shelf, one with plain water and one with a spoon of soil stirred in, and check them again the next morning to see the soil settle. Photograph the finished mural end to end and print it small so each child has a copy of the whole marsh to take home.