Squishy, Squeezy, Messy, Color Mixing Kitchen Science

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

Some of our most popular kitchen science experiments at Steve Spangler Science involve color mixing and oil and water blobs in Lava Lamps. We came across this fun twist that involves color mixing and oil and water blobs, so I had to try it with my kids…

Materials

• Water
• Vegetable Oil or Baby Oil
• Giant Test Tubes (or empty bottles)
• Pipettes (or spoons)
• Color Fizzers – True Color Tablets (or food coloring)
• Pie pan
• Small cups

We started with Giant Test Tubes filled 3/4 full with vegetable oil. I filled small cups with water and let my daughter drop Color Fizzer Tablets into the water to mix her original colors. She then used Pipettes to transfer the water from the cups into the Test Tubes. We watched different color blobs of water fall from the top of the oil down to the bottom. It was a rainbow of colors. As they reached the bottom, some combined with others, while some sat on top of the big blobs.

When the tube was full, we capped it off and she shook it. We watched as the colors mixed and the blob grew. It was fascinating to watch the different colors form a wave inside the tube.

My daughter wasn’t done yet, so I filled some pie pans with enough oil to cover the bottom. She dropped blobs of colored water into the pans and watched them mix. She was busy for a long time pushing the water blobs around the pan with her finger. When the water blobs meet, they combine and create new and different colors.

 

Thank you to Growing a Jeweled Rose for sharing this great idea.