Coloured Water Activity – A Colour Mixing Experiment for Preschoolers

This coloured water activity is easy to prep and provides lots of creative, open-ended experimenting. Toddlers and preschoolers will observe first-hand what happens when two colours mix. It’s a great first experiment for little ones, and they’ll strengthen their fine and gross motor skills too! 

Looking for another water play activity before the Fall weather hits?  Toddlers and  preschoolers will have a great time wiht this coloured water mixing station!

This was such a simple activity to pull together, and it was so fun.   Water play is always a hit with the hooligans and holds their attention for long periods of time.  They were at this for almost an hour straight, until a couple of them ventured off to play in the yard.  I left the activity set up for another hour though, and there was always someone (or more than one) at the table.

How to set up your rainbow water play station:

I gathered up a variety of empty containers (body wash & shampoo bottles, a dish detergent bottle, an energy drink bottle etc.), and we filled them with warm water (they feel soooo nice when they’re filled with warm water).  We added food colouring to each bottle, and also added glitter to some, and a drop or two of dish soap to some.

Then we headed outside with some glass (Pyrex) baking dishes, a few glass jars and some wooden spoons.  I chose the glassware for a couple of reasons: A) I wanted to use containers that were clear so the Hooligans could really see the colours they were working with, and B) I thought plastic containers would be too light and might be easily tipped over if knocked into or leaned on.

Set out the bottles of coloured water, and let the fun begin!

This proved to be much more than just water play, or a lesson in colour mixing.  Because all of the bottles were different, the lids all opened in different ways: some were pop tops, some were flip tops, some were easy to open, and others were challenging for little fingers.

Some bottles poured quickly, and some required squeezing.  One bottle was particularly hard to squeeze (a Heinz ketchup bottle).  The older children really had to work to get the water out of it, and the younger ones required my help.  

And getting their aim right was tricky for the younger ones when filling the smaller jars.  It was neat watching them figure it all out.

It took a bit of time for them to drain all the bottles, but when they did, I had a couple of pitchers of warm water standing by, for re-fills.  It was just a matter of adding a couple more drops of food colouring.  Also, if someone’s glass dish was full, and the colour wasn’t too muddied, I just poured that into a bottle that had been emptied.  

I have to say, this was hands down, one of the best (and easy) water play activities that we’ve ever done here.

There you go!  Gather up your empty containers, and get playing!! 🙂

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Jackie Currie

Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.