Use red, yellow and blue tempera paint or oil paint to make secondary colors from primary colors. Mix equal amounts of red and yellow to make orange, mix equal amounts of yellow and blue to make green and mix equal amounts of red and blue to make purple.
Use paint or crayons to make a color wheel. Divide a circle into six equal parts. Paint or color the parts in this sequential order: yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green. To determine secondary colors that provide a pleasing contrast, pick a color and then find the color opposite it on the color wheel. For example, pick blue and you'll find orange opposite it on the color wheel. Opposite colors are called complementary colors. These colors provide the most contrast. Blue and orange, for example, are complementary colors. These colors are often found in nature; they work well together. A bird-of-paradise is blue and orange.
Choose two colors next to each other on the color wheel from Section 2 to find analogous colors. Colors that are next to each other work well with each other and can provide a sense of harmony. For example, orange goes well with yellow in dress print patterns.
Coordinate the colors of furniture in a room with the colors of the walls. You can choose to use complementary colors or analogous colors. If you have painted the walls of a room blue, you can put an orange bedspread on the bed for an interesting and pleasing contrast. Coordinate the colors of articles of clothing with color theory. For example, if you are wearing blue jeans and want a shirt to go with them, you can consider choosing a shirt with an analogous color (purple or green) or a complementary color(orange) so it goes well with the blue jeans. Of course, the colors you'll find come in many variations of the primary colors in the color wheel. Be sure to look at your color choices next to each other before you make a decision.