Mixing colours in French

If you’re looking to introduce your child to “les couleurs” or colours in French, what better way than to do so through art and play? In this fun colour-mixing activity, your child will learn about primary and secondary colours in a way that is fun, messy but also memorable.

Primary colours in French

Although technically, the proper names of the primary red is magenta and the primary blue is cyan in English and in French, I’m using the more common term in this activity.

The three primary colours are:

Rouge Red
Jaune Yellow
Bleu Blue

Gender when talking about colours in French

The word colour is feminine in French, but we use the masculine when talking about specific colours. So it’s une couleur or la couleur, but when referring to the colour red, you would use “le rouge”.

Quelle est ta couleur préférée? What is your favourite colour?
J’aime le rouge. I like red.

Secondary colours in French

The three secondary colours are:

Orange Orange
Vert Green
Violet Purple

Colour-mixing activity

• Red paint in a container
• Yellow paint in a container
• Blue paint in a container
• 3 empty containers
• Paintbrushes

Mélangeons le rouge et le jaune.

Let’s mix red and yellow.

Continue the activity with the following colours.

• Rouge + Bleu = Violet
• Jaune + Bleu = Vert

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Les pots de couleur song and lyrics

Here’s a fun nursery rhyme to play after the activity. It reinforces some of the vocabulary and concepts learned with a catchy tune. It also mixes red and green, so if your bambin (toddler) is curious, you can try that combination to see what it gives.

J’avais un pot de jaune, J’avais un pot de rouge, J’ai pris le pot de jaune, J’ai pris le pot de rouge, Je les ai mélangés Dans un grand saladier Je les ai mélangés Dans un grand saladier J’avais un pot de jaune, J’avais un pot de rouge, Ça a fait de l’orange, Ah c’est vraiment étrange ! J’avais un pot de rouge, J’avais un pot de vert, J’ai pris le pot de rouge, J’ai pris le pot de vert, Je les ai mélangés Dans un grand saladier Je les ai mélangés Dans un grand saladier J’avais un pot de rouge, J’avais un pot de vert, Et ça a fait du noir, Je n’arrive pas à y croire ! J’avais un pot de bleu, J’avais un pot de jaune, J’ai pris le pot de bleu, J’ai pris le pot de jaune, Je les ai mélangés Dans un grand saladier, Je les ai mélangés Dans un grand saladier, J’avais un pot de bleu, J’avais un pot de jaune, Et ça a fait du vert, C’est extraordinaire !

I had a pot of yellow, I had a pot of red I took the pot of yellow, I took the pot of red, I mixed them up In a large bowl I mixed them up In a large bowl I had a pot of yellow, I had a pot of red, It made orange, Ah it’s really strange! I had a pot of red, I had a pot of green, I took the pot of red, I took the pot of green, I mixed them up In a large bowl I mixed them up In a large bowl I had a pot of red, I had a pot of green, And it turned black, I cannot believe it ! I had a pot of blue, I had a pot of yellow, I took the pot of blue, I took the pot of yellow, I mixed them up In a large salad bowl, I mixed them up In a large salad bowl, I had a pot of blue, I had a pot of yellow, And it turned green, It’s extraordinary !