My friends at 2Crochethooks offered a craft challenge for the month of January – turn a two liter soda bottle into something else. I know I’m just a little late, but we had to wait for the paint to dry, and this is what we made – a recycled mixing colors mobile for preschoolers from soda bottles.

This was actually a fun activity to do with my preschooler and Kindergartner. The activity allowed us to discuss how the primary colors work to create secondary and tertiary colors. We also talked about how using a secondary color over the top of one of its parent primary colors will make the primary color “disappear”.

And while the finished product isn’t show-stoppingly spectacular, it was a really great way to discuss colors with my kids and reinforce how colors work. All of my children thought the final product was “cool” and the creators had a great time playing (I mean learning.)  And what more can you ask from a used two liter soda bottle?

Materials:
Two soda bottles cut up into differently sized rectangles.
Craft paint in the primary colors, as well as white
Foam brushes
Pipe cleaners
Two small wooden dowels or bamboo BBQ skewers

Objective: Help preschool and Kindergarten aged children explore how the primary colors work together.

Procedure:
Be sure to spread newsprint or craft paper over the table before painting.
Assign each child one of the primary colors. I let mine pick – that’s why there are a few more red objects on our mobile. Then let the children paint the front and back of a rectangle with only one of the primary colors. For example, the child would paint both sides of their rectangle red. This is a good time to talk about the primary colors and how the three form all colors.  Our craft paint flaked off if it was painted on too thickly, which was an effect I liked. Just something to be aware of when painting the rectangles.

The painted rectangles need to be allowed to dry completely before moving on with the experience.
After the rectangles have dried, set the activity up again, only this time instruct the children to only paint one side of their rectangle.  Talk to the children about what happens when different colors are painted on top of each other, and the colors that are formed. We also used green paint for this part of the activity.

After the painted rectangles have dried again, punch a small hole in the top of each triangle.
Then pull a pipe cleaner through the hole and twist it around to secure it. Make sure to make pipe cleaners of different lengths to give depth to the mobile.
Next,  place the wooden dowels in an X and use another pipe cleaner to hold it together.
Finally, hang the rectangles and hang the mobile.

This comes out looking a bit post modernistic in its construction, but all my kids thought the project was cool when it was finished and really liked painting the rectangles. It was a fun way to show how the primary colors mix together.