Maker Monday: Underwater Fireworks

Science and beauty combine in the Underwater Fireworks experiment, this week’s Maker Monday STEM activity. Little kids will find their giggles watching the moving colors swirl below the surface. Older kids might find the science lesson behind the experiment more fascinating.

When you stir the food coloring with the vegetable oil, you’ll notice they do not mix. Beads of food coloring will be suspended in the oil. Once you pour it into the jar of water, the beads of liquid color break free of the oil and drop into the water in lovely swirls of color. The oil remains floating on top because of the difference in density and weight.

It is very cool to watch!

Supplies:

Glass jar

Vegetable oil

food coloring

Fill your jar about 3/4 full with warm water. Measure 2 tablespoons of oil into a small bowl and stir in about 5 drops of food coloring. You can add additional colors to the same bowl if you like. We kept our colors in separate bowls to experiment with different colors in separate jars. Stir the oil and food coloring a bit, but you will see they do not mix.

Pour the oil and food coloring to the water. Tell kids to watch how the mixture drops into the water, then quickly floats to the top. In few minutes, the color begins to break free from the oil to drop slowly and gracefully into the water.

For more Maker Monday projects and other fun stuff for kids, visit the Kidsburgh Activities page.