articles

Rainbow Science Experiments

By Jennifer Baker, Granite Falls NC Mom and MacKid Guest Writer March 8, 2017

It was the Saturday of a busy weekend when my three year old daughter asked in her most precious little person voice, "Mommy, can we do some spearmints this weekend? Some spearmints with colors?" By "spearmints" she was referring to "experiments" and regardless of how busy I was, how could I say no to such a precious inquisition? So I racked my brain for any quick "spearmints" that wouldn't take much preparation. With St. Patrick's Day approaching, and her request for experiments with color, I thought of a few that were just right and were for sure the easiest experiments I have prepared. Win-Win!

Give these a try for a quick bit of learning fun! They are perfect for any age.

1) Magic (or Dancing) Milk:
Magic Milk is one of my favorite annual experiments because it is so effortless, yet has a science lesson to go with it.

Here's what I do:
- Give each child a sandwich container filled with about an inch of milk (soy milk works too for my dairy allergic daughter).
- Then I let the kids put a few spaced out drops of food coloring.
- Next, I give the kids each a toothpick and a ramekin of dish soap and instruct them to dip the toothpick in the soap, then poke the milk and wait for the magic.

The colors burst through the milk immediately and continue spontaneously even after the poking! It really is cool to watch and the science behind it is ineresting too. I just explain it as such: Milk has fat. The fat molecules like the soap molecules and want to bond with them and therefore chase them. The food coloring just serves as the visual medium in which to see the chase and therefore the colors burst! My son noticed that the finished products look very much like planets, which can bring up a whole other lesson in itself.

2) Candy Patterns:

I had seen this experiment floating around a few times this year, but was really impressed with the results when we finally did it and thought it was an excellent opportunity to work in some patterning lessons!

What you need:
- Skittles
- a white plate
- warm water

Here's what I do:
- I first had each child make a pattern around the outer flat circle of their plate using the Skittles and I did the same. I furthered the lesson by labeling our patterns AB patterns, ABCD patterns, etc., assigning each color of Skittle a letter to determine the sequence.
- Then we all removed our hands from the table, which is very important because, if the plates are touched or moved, the colors will become muddled.
- Next, I poured enough warm water in the center of the plate to cover about the bottom half of the Skittles.

The Skittles immediately begin to dissolve into perfect parts (ooh... fraction lesson!) to which my previously remiss son exclaimed, "Wow! That is beautiful!" That's all the reward necessary for me!



3) Make Rainbows:
You can find many ways to make rainbows online, but my favorite ways are by using the silver side of a CD to refract light and a coffee pot filled half way with water held in the air. Give these items to your children and see if they can make a rainbow appear! The water in the pot, or the ridged surface of the CD, refract white light causing the waves to interfere and produce color. Did you know that there is a such thing as a "moonbow?" Look it up! This is a great lesson to teach colors as well.



Rainbows and St. Patrick's Day go hand in hand, and who doesn't love rainbows? These simple activities hit on math, science, and art education, and are pure fun to boot!


More content for St. Patrick's Day: