Playdough Color Science Game for Learning Colors

Turn playdough into a science game about primary and secondary colors!  Playdough is my go-to activity for my toddler while I make dinner. I have a little table for my son in the kitchen where I set him up with homemade playdough. He has free play while I throw six ingredients into a pressure cooker and call it dinner. It’s a win-win!  A few weeks ago I created a science game out of this activity and he had so much fun while learning about colors. Keep reading to learn how the game works. Maybe you can buy yourself some time to cook while your kid plays with science, too!

Playdough Color Science Game

I like to use the best playdough recipe for this game. 

• First, dye your play dough red, yellow, and blue. These are primary colors!
• Second, split each ball of dough in half, reserving the primary colors.
• Third, have your kids combine red and yellow to make orange. Combine blue and red to make purple. Combine yellow and blue to make green. Now you should have three primary colors and three secondary colors!
• Finally, turn this activity into a game. Have your kids go around the house and try to find objects that match the play dough colors they made.

Your kids will find that objects around the house are various different shades of the playdough colors they created. Challenge the kids to mix their dough to match the colors of objects they find.

This science game works for a wide range of ages. Older kids will get a kick out of the challenge of making precise color matches while younger kids enjoy making a mess 🙂 I plan to pull this game out again when my toddler’s older cousins visit over the holidays. I will add another element to the game by pulling out a kitchen timer so they can race to match objects they find!

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You can buy this 2-pound bucket of playdough?! Check out our fun color mixing activities for preschoolers!