Color Blast Kitchen Art and Science

Mixing colors in the kitchen with a few common ingredients provides an engaging activity for children. This is one they are sure to want to do over and over as it will be different each time. This activity is so fun and so easy!

We made a video, too. Listen to the oohs and ahs!

What you need:

– Food Coloring (3 or more colors)

– Heavy Whipping Cream

– Dawn Soap

– Q-Tips

Pour some heavy whipping cream in a plate…. add small amounts of food coloring, and dip the Q-tip into the dawn soap…..and into the whipping cream….STIR…..and watch something very cool happen!!

Here is a plate of cream:

Add a very few drops of food coloring. We used three colors. Use whatever colors you happen to have on hand.

Oh, we want a little more color, so we added a tiny bit more.

This next step is very important. The Q-tip has to be dipped in some liquid (of course) Dawn dishwashing detergent. What doesn’t Dawn do? It is used so often in experiments and DIY cleaning projects. As the Q-tip becomes soaked with color, it needs to be thrown away. Have several on hand as the children will want fresh ones as they work. Each one will need to be dipped in detergent.

At first, the color will begin to spread by itself. Touch the color with the Q-tip to watch the magic.

We couldn’t resist stirring and helping the color along.

Look at the vibrant colors as we move the Q-tip around in the cream. The colors get so dark with only a few drops of food color. They would look light in water.

The changes are fascinating to watch. It is like a kaleidoscope. The colors get darker and darker.