Get ready to explore colours in a new way! Let’s mix a colour without a brush and palette and watch the magic happen.

YOU WILL NEED:

• A piece of cardboard
• Sketchpens
• Scissors
• String

DO:

1. Cut out a circle from cardboard.

2. Use a pencil and ruler to divide the circle into six equal parts. Colour each part alternating between red, yellow and blue.

3. Poke two small holes in the centre and thread a string through them

4. Hold the string from both sides, and spin the wheel.

WATCH:

See how the colours blend into each other!

WHY DO NEW COLOURS APPEAR WHEN THE WHEEL SPINS?

THINK ABOUT IT!

When the wheel is still, you can clearly see the three colours — red, blue, and yellow. But when it spins quickly, the colours seem to blend. That’s because your eyes and brain hold on to an image for a tiny fraction of a second even after it’s gone. This is called persistence of vision. As the colours spin rapidly, they flash so fast that your brain mixes them into new colours like orange, green, and purple. Spin it even faster and see what happens!

WHERE ELSE CAN YOU SEE THIS?

LET’S FIND OUT!

The same trick your eyes played with the colour wheel also happens with a fidget spinner. When its arms spin quickly, each position flashes too fast for your eyes to separate. Because of persistence of vision, your brain blends these flashes together and creates smooth motion, colour mixing, and even fun illusions. That’s why a fidget spinner can sometimes look like it’s slowing down, changing patterns, or even spinning backwards — your eyes are seeing a blur, and your brain is filling in the motion, just like it did with the spinning colour wheel.

Look at that! You’ve mixed colours in a brand-new way—no brush, no palette, just creativity!