Primary Colours

NCERT anchor: NCERT Looking Around Class 1 — Theme: Colours (basic colour observation)

• Red, yellow, and blue are called primary colours.
• Mixing two primary colours makes a new colour.
• Crayons, paints, and toys come in many colours made from these three.

1. What are primary colours

Level 1 (Verbal): Red, yellow, blue — the three starting colours.

Level 2 (Symbolic): Other colours are made by mixing these three.

Visual: Three paint blobs — red, yellow, blue — side by side.

2. Mixing two primary colours

Verbal: Red + yellow = orange. Blue + yellow = green. Red + blue = purple.

Visual: Paint red next to yellow, blend in the middle — orange appears.

3. Where we see them

Crayon box, paint set, rainbow, balloons at a birthday party.

Painting red and yellow together on paper

Step 1 — Dip brush in red paint, make a dot.
Step 2 — Dip brush in yellow paint, make a dot next to it.
Step 3 — Mix the two dots together with the brush.
Step 4 — Watch the new colour appear.
Answer: orange.

• Name the three primary colours.
• What colour do you get by mixing red and yellow?
• What colour do you get by mixing blue and yellow?
• Stretch: What happens if you mix red, yellow, and blue all together?

Revision tip: Mix two crayon colours on paper before dinner and name the new colour.

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on Primary Colours.