When M was about 9 months old she was sat in a bath and became transfixed by the steady trickle of water coming from the tap. Time and time again she tried to grab the stream of water and was utterly puzzled: Why wasn’t it possible to hold onto the solid-appearing rod of glinting water? I had a moment of delight and clarity as I watched M explore this ‘illusion’. As an adult I of course know a liquid cannot be held onto like a solid can, but when and how had I learned this? Here were M learning it right in front of my eyes and it felt like a moment of brilliant revelation, an instant when one of the secrets of how the world works was revealed.
HervĂ© Tullet‘s Mix it Up! allows us all to experience the same thrill of discovery, the buzz that comes from a lightbulb moment; it takes us back to the very bare bones of colour theory and shows us magic at our own fingertips. That mixing yellow and blue should give us a total different colour… well that’s pretty cool if you think about it.
Listeners and readers are invited into a wide open, imaginative space where their physical interaction with the book (tipping it, tapping it, slamming it shut) has the power to transform the pages. On one level we know it is an illusion, but the way the book addresses us directly and apparently responds to our commands instils a thrilling sense of both powerfulness and playfulness.
This books shows paint as your friend and as such is a fabulous doorway into the world of art.
This book makes scientists of its readers and listeners, asking the to predict what is going to happen and then making it so.
Mix it Up!‘s simplicity is deceptive and will be enjoyed by older children and playful adults, even if they’ve long since learned all they technically need to know about primary and secondary colours. A worthy follow-up to Press Here, this unadorned, uncomplicated book will cast a spell over you and allow you to see again some of the wonder around you.
Inspired by the page in Tullet’s book which shows a hand amongst paint-covered fingerprints we draw around our hands and cut out hand templates. These we temporarily stuck to a sheet of card (using masking tape).
Next we went wild with finger painting, starting with three bowls of primary colours (soaked into sponges so that the paint stuck to our fingers more evenly)…
…before mixing the primary colours to make secondary colours.
When the paper was full of prints I then carefully removed the hand templates to leave white shadows.
We used the now-covered-in-fingerprints hand templates to stick on a second sheet of white paper, creating an “opposite” image to the hand shadows.
Both are now up on the walls in the girls’ room. I think they make very effective pieces of art but perhaps more importantly, the process was hugely enjoyable.
Whilst we painted we listened to:
Other activities which would go well with reading Mix it Up! include:
What do you take for granted but have recently see with new eyes?
Disclosure: A free review copy of Mix it Up! was sent to me by the publishers.
rosalyn phillips
Now I’ll buy the book! Loved the music, and what creative ideas! Thank you.
Julia Shelley
Hi
Such a clever book which reminded me of the brilliant Richard Scarry, I still love messing around with paint, can anyone remember the title of the RS book teaching about colour through mixing spilt paint pots? I’ve never forgotten the sight of colours mixing and changing, it seemed like magic.
Thanks Julia
Zoe
Hi Julia, I’ll ask around about the Richard Scarry book and see if I can find you the answer.
Mrs Brown
We love this book and now I’ve got a great activity to try with it. It really brings an already great book to life. Thanks!
Mrs Brown recently posted..Thank You, Octopus by Darren Farrell
Catherine
I’m a huge fan of Press Here but haven’t seen Mix It Up – it’s definitely going on the wishlist. I love your handprint idea 🙂
Catherine recently posted..Ask an author – Nicola Davies (plus giveaway)
Zoe
Catherine – i think the hand print project could be such a lovely keepsake actually – featuring the hands of everyone in the family. Would be great to do at a big family gathering so you got grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins too
Zoe recently posted..Mix it Up! And let the wonder in
Marjorie
What stunning artwork you produced – and I’m sure in some years’ time it will become very precious as a record of small hands. I have framed on my wall a much less artistic ‘splodge’ of purple paint with hand and foot prints from when my kids, now almost taller than me, spilled a pot of paint on our terrace in Rome – I managed to contain my horror and instead made them strip off, rolled out a huge strip of paper and made them use all the paint up! I’m so glad I did – it brings back so many memories now.
Noted, With Thanks for September 5th, 2014 | Noted, With Thanks
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