This week, Year 5 have been learning about the artist’s colour wheel.
The modern colour-wheel is based on Sir Isaac Newton’s experimentation with light. While Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, he experimented by shining white light (daylight) through a glass prism, splitting it into the individual colours of the visible spectrum (colours seen by the human eye). He identified six colours: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo (blue) and violet (purple).
We conducted Newton’s experiment in the Year 5 classrooms and discovered how and why the light splits into individual colours. We discussed the colour wheel and how it is used by artists. Pupils then went on to mix secondary and tertiary colour and paint their own colour wheel.
Please see the gallery below:
