Today was one of my favorite days in Art Education. It’s edible color wheel day! I have been doing this project for years and it is always a hit. After lecturing on the color wheel, color schemes, and color theory to my class I like to take the next class to assess their knowledge with a group project. In class, each table of 4 to 6 students make their own color wheel with cookies and frosting. Here is what you will need:
Materials (per group)
20 or so cookie wafers
1 can of white frosting
food coloring in red, yellow, and blue (Take the green out of the box)
black food coloring- 1 bottle at the teacher’s station has lasted for years!
Spoons, plastic cups, napkins, poster board, and markers to label.
Step 1: As a group, draw the color wheel diagram on your presentation paper and frost 1 cookie with each of the 3 primary colors and place the cookie on your team’s poster board diagram of the color wheel.
Step 2: As a group, mix each secondary color and frost a cookie to place on your diagram. (Note: Some primary colors may not be able to be "treated equally" - your color intensities will vary. See what works for your colors - and "fudge" a bit to get the best secondary colors possible)
Step 3: As a group, mix the 6 tertiary colors. Then frost one cookie for each of these 6 colors and place them on the color wheel in the correct spots.
Step 4: As a group, mix any two complementary colors to make a Gray/Brown neutral and place that cookie in the middle of the color wheel.
Step 5: As a group, mix tints and shades of one hue (red or blue work best) to form a 5 point value scale on the side of the color wheel. (black coloring available at the teacher’s station)
I teach future art teachers at Emporia State University. Here is what is going on in my classes.