How to Make Brown, Purple, Pink and Gray: Color Mixing for Kids

To make brown, mix all three primary colors (red, yellow and blue), or mix orange with a little blue. Purple is red plus blue, pink is red plus white, and gray is black plus white, or blue plus orange plus white if you have no black. The same recipes work with paint and with coloring tools: with crayons or colored pencils you layer one color lightly over another instead of stirring them together. Children can start simple mixing at about three with paint, and layering with pencils from about five or six. A first mixing session takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Quick answer: what to mix for each color

Target color	What to mix	Tip
Orange	Red + yellow	Start with yellow, add red bit by bit
Green	Blue + yellow	Start with yellow, add blue slowly
Purple	Red + blue	Use a pinkish red and a deep blue
Brown	Red + yellow + blue, or orange + a little blue, or red + green	Add the blue or green in tiny amounts
Pink	Red + white	Start with white, add a dot of red
Gray	Black + white	Start with white, black is very strong
Gray without black	Blue + orange + white	Mix blue and orange to a dark brown, then lighten
Light skin tone	White + a little orange or yellow + a tiny bit of red	See our skin tone guide below

With pencils and crayons, the lighter color usually goes down first and the darker one on top, pressing lightly so both show.

What are primary and secondary colors?

Primary colors are red, yellow and blue. You cannot mix them from other colors, and almost every other color can be mixed from them.

Secondary colors are what you get when you mix two primaries in equal parts:

• Red + yellow = orange
• Yellow + blue = green
• Blue + red = purple

Mix all three primaries and you get brown. Black and white do not change the color itself: they make it darker or lighter.

A simple way to explain it to a five-year-old: "Two friends together make a new color. All three friends together make brown."

How do you make brown?

Tree trunks, dogs, horses and chocolate all need brown. There are three ways to mix it:

1. All three primaries. Mix equal amounts of red and yellow to get orange, then add blue a little at a time. Too much blue turns it nearly black.
2. Orange plus a little blue. The quickest way if you already have orange paint or an orange crayon.
3. Red plus green. Red and green sit opposite each other on the color wheel, and opposites always mix to brown or gray.

For a lighter brown, add yellow or a little white. For dark chocolate, add more blue.

With colored pencils: color the area lightly in orange, then go over it lightly in blue or dark green. Add a third layer of red for a warm, reddish brown. With crayons: yellow first, then red, then a light touch of blue, all with soft pressure. With washable markers: they barely blend, so use a brown marker and add a light pencil layer on top once the ink is dry.

How do you make purple, and why does it turn muddy?

Purple is red plus blue. It turns muddy and brownish when one of the two colors secretly contains yellow. Many reds lean toward orange (they hold a bit of yellow), and some blues lean toward green. Yellow plus red plus blue is the recipe for brown, so the purple goes dull.

• For a bright purple, pick a pinkish red (magenta or crimson) and a deep blue that does not look greenish.
• For lavender, add white to purple, or start with white and add purple.
• With pencils, layer blue over pink, not over orange-red. With crayons, color red lightly first, then blue on top.

How do you make pink?

Pink is red plus white. Always start with the white and add red one dot at a time: a single drop of red goes a long way, and you can never take it back out.

With coloring tools, the paper itself is the white:

• Colored pencils: press very lightly with a red pencil and pink appears. Press harder and it becomes red.
• Layering: color an area with a white pencil first, then red lightly on top. The white softens the red into a smooth pink.
• Crayons: a light hand with red, or red over white crayon, gives pink.

"How to make pink with primary colors" is a trick question: you cannot make pink from red, yellow and blue alone. You need white, or the white of the paper.

How do you make gray, with or without black?

The easy way is black plus white. Start with a big blob of white and add tiny amounts of black, because black takes over quickly.

Gray without black: mix blue and orange (two opposite colors) until you get a dark brownish gray, then add white until it looks gray. Add a little more blue for a cool, stormy gray, or a little more orange for a warm, stone gray.

With pencils: press lightly with a black or graphite pencil for a light gray. For a softer, more colorful gray, layer light blue over light orange.

How do you mix skin tones?

Most skin tones start from red, yellow and white, made deeper with brown or a touch of blue. Our guide on how to color skin tones covers this in detail, including which pencils to layer for each shade.

Activities: three color mixing projects for kids

Make a color mixing chart to color in

1. On a sheet of paper, draw a grid of circles: 4 across and 4 down, each about the size of a coin. Trace around a bottle cap if you like.
2. Write "red", "yellow", "blue" and "white" along the top, and the same four along the left side.
3. In each circle, color the top color lightly, then the side color lightly on top. Red row, blue column gives purple. Blue row, yellow column gives green.
4. Label each result.

This takes 20 to 30 minutes and works with pencils, crayons or paint.

Draw a color wheel

Draw a big circle and divide it into 6 slices, like a pizza. Color red, yellow and blue in every other slice, then fill the gaps with the color you get by mixing the two neighbors. Older children (8 and up) can split it into 12 slices and add the in-between colors. Our guide to patterns and color theory for kids has more color wheel ideas.

Try a pencil layering experiment

Pick one free page with plenty of separate shapes, such as the sunrise mandala or the honeycomb pattern. Fill each shape with a different two-color layer and keep a small key in the corner of the page. For an animal that needs mixed colors, the parrot or the butterfly at the easy level have big shapes that are easy to fill. Our colored pencil techniques for beginners explains light pressure and layering step by step.

What age can kids start mixing colors?

Age	What works
3 to 4	Finger paint or thick paint: mixing two colors and seeing what happens
5 to 6	Primary and secondary colors, simple charts, crayon layering with soft pressure
7 to 8	Brown, pink and gray recipes, pencil layering, a 6-slice color wheel
9 and up	Muddy versus bright mixes, opposites, 12-slice wheel, skin tones

Young children press hard, which makes layering difficult. Our tips on how to color with crayons help them find a lighter touch.

Frequently asked

What two colors make brown?

Orange and blue make brown, and so do red and green or purple and yellow. Any two colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel mix to brown or gray. Add the darker color in small amounts so the brown does not turn black.

Can you mix colors with crayons?

Yes, by layering. Color the lighter color first with soft pressure, then the darker color lightly on top. Pressing hard with the first color fills the paper with wax, and the second color slides off instead of mixing.

How do you make gray without black paint?

Mix blue and orange to a dark brownish color, then add white until it reads as gray. More blue gives a cool gray, more orange a warm gray. Red and green, or purple and yellow, also work as a starting pair.

Try it with your own photo

Mixing the right brown for your own dog or the exact green of your front door is more fun than any chart. Coolorio turns a family photo into a printable coloring page in four detail levels, delivered as a PDF to print at home, and photos are deleted after 7 days. Browse the free coloring pages for practice, then see how it works.