We did the absolute most awesome science experiment ever today.
Last night, my friend Sami texted me. “Dude, have you ever done the milk, food coloring, soap experiment with your kids?”
Except she didn’t really call me Dude. “No, I haven’t. What on earth is it!?” She told me to go Google it. She’s a good friend like that, making me do the legwork myself for the answers so I don’t grow accustomed to handouts. Well, either that or she was taking care of her six children.
Anyway.
I gathered all of our little ones around the kitchen sink. This works best by a sunny window. I poured a little less than an inch of milk into a baking pan.
We added five or six drops of a few different colors of food coloring near the center of the milk. And then? I squirted a little bit of dish soap right into the center of the colors.
Bang! The soap broke the surface tension of the water and caused the colors to shoot quickly around the milk like fireworks. I know the video is super poor quality, but I really wanted you to see it in action! My little ones literally oohed and ahhed (Could you hear them in the video? That was my favorite part!) and the colorful milk danced and turned right before our eyes without us even touching it.
The first blast was the best one. We kept on, though, adding a little more food coloring and some more drops of soap.
Seriously, I was in love with the colors and swirls. The kids tried to find shapes and animals and objects in the swirling milk. Afterwords, we researched the reason why this science experiment works the way it does.
And this last photograph?
It’s my favorite. Would it be odd if I told you that I plan to have it printed, framed and hung in our home?
Okay, seriously this was a great experiment that was easy on the eyes. You have got to try it!!
Thank you for this, my kids loved it!
Glad to hear it!!
Thats funny. Tyler just finished that same science experiment for the science class he’s taking. He had to do a lab report and a demonstration in class.
Wow!! I am SO doing this with my 1st grade class!!! Now…to find a curriculum standard that goes with it.
My kids would love this!
This is awesome! My kids will love it! Thanks for sharing!
Love this…what a cool experiment. And, the last picture does look like art that should go on the wall. Great idea!
We HAVE done this before, and my daughter asks to do it quite a bit because she loves the colors (so do I
!! I think it’s neat…great idea to photograph!!
I think it would be awesome printed on the metallic paper!
This is so cool. I would love to do it with my 27 month old grand daughter. Will 2% milk work?
I’ve done it using q- tips dipped in soap so the kiddos can poke the milk and control the effects
I totally think that you should make a huge print for your home! The colors and design are so cool.
We did this first thing this morning!!! It was a huge hit!!! What an awesome experiment – any other clever science experiment ideas for pre-school age kids????
Wow, that is awesome! I’ll have to try this with my kiddos today! When I saw the last photo, I thought to myself, “she should print and frame that… enlarge it even!” Then I read about you being crazy for wanting to do that? Ummm, not at all! That is art, made with lots of love!
I see a science experiment in our future! This looks like so much fun. It’ll be a great addition to your wall art too.
Dang it! I tried it and it didn’t work at all! My food coloring sank to the bottom. :/
What percent fat was your milk? I totally forgot to say that it works well with fatty milk (which is already always what we have on hand!).
I used skim, then saw your comment to someone else about fattier milk so I used my dads half & half. haha. Neither one worked. Maybe it was the dye I was using?? It said food coloring and Easter egg dye? Who knows.
We’ve used 1/2 percent…
http://www.kidzone.ws/science/rainbow.htm This is how we did ours… It turned out really good!!!
That should be well not good…
Thanks!
No Problem…
We made our little guest bathroom primary colors (with red walls!) and we framed our kids’ colorful art projects to fill up the wall space. I think this science project will produce awesome pics for that room…so no, I don’t think you are crazy for hanging up ics of it.
This is downright awesome and something I definitely want to do with the boys. I’m assuming you used goat’s milk? Since I don’t have access to goat’s milk I will try it with cow’s milk. I wonder how it would work to use a thicker, richer, buttermilk? hmmmm I may have to try that too!
The heavier fat in the milk the better, we learned! Not sure about the cultured buttermilk, though. You should try! We used store bought cow’s milk this time. The only goat milk we have left is frozen (our goats won’t milk again until their kids are born this winter) and I won’t waste it, even on an awesome science experiment.
Oh how cool is this?!! Yeah this is WAY better than the melted crayons we have now after yesterday’s impromptu art project. Jake is gonna love this ! Thanks for sharing! And thanks, Sami!
This is really cute! I dont know if my older 2 kids (almost 9, and a 10 yr old) would like it, but I could see the younger 2 being into it. Thanks, we might try this one day.
Awesome! I can’t wait to try this with my son and daughter!
And I think it’s awesome you’re going to frame that last picture – it’s so pretty! If I can get a good shot of ours once we do the experiment, I just might do the same! Thanks for sharing! 
Not strange at all to get them printed out and framed… I thought the same thing. Love the colors!
In your “why this worked” research, did you find that it doesn’t work very well with skim milk? I remember doing this a couple of years ago and that it’s the dish soap working against the fat in the milk that makes the colors scoot around. Or did I dream that?
You didn’t dream it! The fattier the milk the better.
Very beautiful. I am going to try this with the kids tonight. BTW, are you going on the next GHN1 trip I think being planned for this next summer? I have a call with Jonathan this morning. Was going to try and go in Feb but don’t think that is going to work out.
I hope to go on that one, too!!!
Oh, I am so going to do this with my grandbabies (age 3 1/2, 2 1/2 and 6 1/2 mos) when i babysit tomorrow. I was going to make rice krispie treats and cut them out with holiday cookie cutters and homemade playdough but I think I’ll do the milk experiment instead!
well now i have to go buy food coloring.
Excellent! In my former life (read: before kids) I was an analytical chemist. As part of my job I also organized Take A Child to Work Day – which meant I got to come up with cool experiments using what we had in the lab. THIS would have been PERFECT! Instead we made the absolute best ice cream I’ve ever had using fresh ingredients…and liquid nitrogen (and I’ve had A LOT of ice cream!).
Another cool thing (not pretty but fun) is to wrap some baking soda in a paper towel and place it in a ziploc bag. Pour in some diluted vinegar and seal quickly (do this outside or in the sink) and wait for the bang! I thought this would be perfect for you since you seem to use baking soda and vinegar for a lot of things…
Oh, and I shoulda asked? Did you use goats’ milk? Not that it matters…I was just wondering!
Nope, we used store bought cow’s milk.
Dude, we totally just did this experiment this week too!! =) I used a glass pie pan and just did one drop of soap in the middle and ours burst out more like a star. It’s way cool, we did it again and again!
That’s my favorite kind of artwork. The majority of the artwork in our home is something my children have created. I am loving the deals you can get through places like Canvas people and digital cameras make it all so easy! Go for it! Making memories and heirlooms!
How fun and looks soooooo cool!
Amy
Darn! I just put the kids to bed (it’s night here in the Philippines!) Is it wrong if I try this on my own tonight? Kind of like a trail run
So cool!!! Love this!! I tried writing on windows with whiteboard markers today. The kids couldn’t believe I was actually telling them to do that! Once they got over the shock, they had a blast. My windows are now sporting a beautiful butterfly garden
Love it!!!! A trial run at night sounds good to me, too.
Keep in mind that sunshine helps the experiment to work better, though.
I was totally thinking the SAME THING about framing the picture! Seriously. It’s awesome!
Dear MacMumma
I did this for myself (and I’m 50 not 5) after I saw it on http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/
They have heaps of great Science Experiments. Many are so simple.
I hope it’s ok to put a url here – and don’t worry about the url – it really is kosher
Would you mind if I also purchased a print out of that!? (totally serious) LOVE it! That is so neat!!!
I’d love to give it to you!! Just email me.
This goes along great when you are teaching the color wheel… You can talk about primary, secondary, etc!!!!
So much fun!!!
I usually don’t like “abstract” art but that is really pretty!
You don’t usually like abstract art!??!? Oh dear. What is this world coming to!?!?
I am TOTALLY trying this with my kids tomorrow night — LOVE the photos!
That is a fun experiment, we’ve done it before! To make a similar look on paper: Spray shaving cream, the regular old white kind, onto a plate and spread it out. Squeeze several drops of different food colors onto the shaving cream then take a straw or pencil and lightly run it thru the shaving cream. Don’t mix it, just make swirls with the color. Then lay a piece of paper (not glossy) on the top and very lightly press down. It will now be covered in shaving cream so turn the paper over and lay it down. Take a paper towel and wipe it off. The paper will now have a tie dye effect on it. Very pretty but you will have stained fingers from the food coloring!!
That last photo is amazing!!! I’m totally going to try that. I love, love, love color!
Me too!!!!
That is pretty neat. I think my boys would love it.
this looks like so much fun!
I totally just pinned this to pinterest! Awesome experiment and I can’t wait to do this with my kids. And printing it off and hanging it up? Something I will totally be doing too, lol!
That is really neat. I wonder if you stapled some neutral colored fabric to an old picture frame, put it in the bottom of the pan before performing the experiment if you could lift the frame up and capture some of that awesomeness in the fabric.
Interesting idea! I tried dipping some absorbent paper onto the top of the colored swirls once we were done, but it didn’t really turn out the way I wanted.
Beautiful! If only I could find a way to make that into glass for our sidelight window! We have a curatin there now, but we’re looking into stained glass. This is so much prettier…IMO!:) Love, hugs and blessings to you all!
That would be AWESOME to turn this into glass!!! Thanks for the love, hugs and blessings, friend.
I wonder if you could print the photo on clear printer paper sold for making window decals? Then you could attach it with spray adhesive maybe. I think it would be gorgeous.
Ohhhh, you should print and frame them all for a science collection! Love the colors and swirls!
Gotta do it!!!
I did this with my kids when I was working at the elementary school this year
They loved it!
If you printed them out on regular copy paper It would make great gift wrappings for the holidays!
Great idea!!
love that idea!
I wonder if there is a way to acheive the randomness of this – but then have it set just like that – so the light can come through – to hang up?? Hmmmmmm
But VERY cool indeed!!
i just took chemistry for elementary ed teachers and we did this experiment! i thought it was so cool that i came home & did again! and it is definitely not odd that you would want to print and frame that picture! i think it is awesome!
That’s so pretty! I would love to have that hanging in a room!
Looks like some Super Duper Cool Fun!
This is sooooo totally cool. I am totally doing this with my son. And I LOVE all the photographs. I can see why you want to print the last one. I love abstract stuff like this.
And for those of us who are lazy and don’t want to Google things (ie me!), did you use a cookie sheet or a pan with higher sides, like a 9″x13″ pan or something? Thank you so much for sharing this!
I used a glass pan with higher sides! A clear one…I felt like that would make the milk “show up” better and be whiter. Worked great!!!! (P.S. I’m lazy, too!)
Thank you!!!
I just did this with my son. It was AMAZING and he LOVED it. Thank you again for sharing it. (Although my pictures did not turn out as well as yours did. sigh.)
This is such an awesome idea for your little students. What a great project – I’m totally doing this in the holidays!
I’ve done this with my early childhood education students. If you place a white piece of paper gently on top of the milk mixture, some of the design will transfer to it. Carefully peel it off the milk and set it to dry.