# Color Mixing Tic-Tac-Toe > Play tic-tac-toe on a board of nine clear cups filled with yellow water. Each player squirts in a different primary color to make their own secondary color (orange or green), and three in a row wins. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/colored-water-play-ideas/ - Ages: 3–7 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 15 min, activity 20 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids - Skills: color-mixing, strategy, turn-taking, fine-motor, early-math - Cautions: food-dye ## Materials (one batch) - 9 piece Clear cups (household) - 3 piece Squeeze bottles - 3 piece Empty containers (household) - Water (household) - Food coloring (red, blue, yellow) - 1 sheet Large sheet of paper (household) - 1 piece Marker (household) ## Substitutions - Instead of squeeze bottles: Any cup or container (The author says you don't have to use squeeze bottles.) ## Safety - Supervise water play at all times, especially with toddlers. Wipe up spills so floors don't get slippery. - Food color is for coloring only; remind kids not to drink the colored water. - Undiluted food color can stain hands and clothes. The author found well-diluted colors didn't stain. - Use unbreakable clear plastic cups with young children. ## Before you start - Color three batches of water red, blue and yellow. - Fill the squeeze bottles and the refill containers with red, blue and yellow water. ## Steps 1. Draw a tic-tac-toe board on the paper and place a clear cup in each box. 2. Fill all 9 cups with the same color water. We chose yellow. 3. Ask: what colors can you make with yellow? 4. Each player picks a primary color. One uses red to make orange, the other uses blue to make green. 5. Take turns squirting your color into one cup, just like regular tic-tac-toe. 6. Get three of your color in a row to win! 7. Dump the water, refill the cups from the containers and play another round. 8. After the game, let the kids free-play with the colored water. ## Tips - Squeeze bottles are handy while playing and give the child more control over how much colored water comes out. - It is easy for kids to answer 'what makes red and yellow?' but 'how do you make orange with yellow?' takes a bit of processing. They have to find the addend! - Keep the containers of colored water nearby. They're exactly for refilling the cups between rounds. - We played many, many rounds, and a few ended in a tie. - Don't worry about stains: the colors were diluted in large amounts of water. - Even without a game, colored water by itself is a fantastic sensory play item. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013) Today's easy play idea uses simply colored water. **[Kids activities](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-pond-life-sensory-play/)** using just a few **[simple materials](https://www.funlittles.com/quick-play-idea-with-rainbow-rice/)** usually seem to provide the best kind of entertainment for the kids. This activity did not disappoint us! It was an exciting game and my 4 year and I played quite a few rounds of the age-old tic-tac-toe game with a colorful twist. For a scientific twist on color mixing see our fizzing [**color mixing**](https://www.funlittles.com/science-experiments-for-kids-color-mixing-kids-activities/) activity. - 9 clear cups - 3 squeeze bottles/ cups - 3 empty containers - Water in primary colors Fill up the squeeze bottles with red, blue and yellow colored water. Fill up the containers with red, blue and yellow colored water. You don’t have to use squeeze bottles and can easily switch to any cup/container. Squeeze bottles are handy while playing and it gives the child more control on the amount of colored water being dispensed. **Easy water play idea using just one color.** This water play idea is simple - make 2 secondary colors using the primary color game board. **Your x's are red and 0's are blue. Each player chooses a primary color and the game proceeds like regular tic-tac-toe** Just in case you are not familiar with the game, here is a short video. Draw a tic tac toe game board and place a clear cup in each box. Fill all the 9 cups with the same color water. We chose yellow. I asked “ what colors can you make with yellow?” Orange!! Please note that it is easy for kids to answer “ what makes red and yellow?” but the question” how do you make orange with yellow” takes a bit of processing. ( Yeah, they have to find the addend!) She picked the red colored water and I used the blue colored water and we started playing color mixing tic tac toe! Just start playing like regular tic tac toe while each player makes a different secondary color – **here my 4 year was making orange and I was making green.** This image was not from the winning game below. Didn't have any pictures from the winning game! But you get the idea? This game was pure fun for her! What’s not to love – food color, water and tic-tac-toe? With that final orange she won! Winning board. and she danced We played many, many rounds. Simply dump the water and fill the cups again ( remember the containers filled with colored water? Exactly for this purpose) A few rounds ended in a tie. After the game toddler and the 4 year had a ball playing with the colored water. In other words means dropping the bottles in the colored water and splashing it all around. The 4 year did what she called " Star wars color mixing" where she holds 2 squeeze bottles and squirts water into a cup!!! Don’t worry it didn't stain since the colors were diluted in large amounts of water. Simple play ideas for kids have to be that- simple. In this kids activity we just used colored water and had a grand time! Even without a game, just colored water in itself is a fantastic sensory play item which can be used in number of kids activities. Honestly I started the game with a bit more complicated board. For those who are interested I had a layout like the following image and you play the same tic tac toe. Although in this version, the game works only if certain colors are chosen. To set up, 1 color on the corners (4) 1 color in the middle position of each column and row (4) and 1 color in the center of the board - total 9 colors. Now you are ready to play colors tic tac toe as well. Thanks for reading. Here are some color activities we have shared. [](https://www.funlittles.com/spring-craft-color-matching-garden/)