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Primary Colours

Colours Around Us: Primary Colours

Primary Colours

Primary Colours

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

What you will learn

  • 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.

Key concepts

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.

Worked example

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.

Common mistakes

MistakeWhyFix
Mixing many colours gives a brighter colourToo many colours mixed together turn muddy brown or greyMix only two colours at a time to see a clean new colour
Orange is a primary colourOrange is made by mixing red and yellowOnly red, yellow, blue are primary
All colours are primaryGreen, orange, purple are made coloursLearn the three starting colours first

Quick check

  • 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.

Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

  • What you will learn
  • Key concepts
  • Worked example
  • Common mistakes

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