I bet this magic milk experiment will become your kid’s favourite. This idea from Little Bins will teach the concepts of surface tension and chemical reactions.
Materials:
· whole milk
· Q-tips or cotton swabs
· any of your favourite food colours based on the chosen theme such as Christmas colour, Thanksgiving colour, etc.
· shallow dish or plate (white)
· small amount of dish soap
Instructions
· Pour in some milk until it covers the shallow dish or plate.
· Next, add a few drops of different food colours on top of the milk, making sure to provide enough space between the colours.
· Place a small amount of dish soap on the cotton swab.
· Touch gently the cotton swab to one of the colored milk.
· Observe the magic of how the colours scatter or swirl.
Photo credit to: https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/magic-milk-a-classic-science-experiment-for-kids
Skills Developed:
· Creativity
Kids could explore any colour for the experiment based on their chosen theme.
· Fine Motor Skills
Hands-on activities like pouring milk into the dish, adding food colours to the milk and touching the milk using a Q-tip help strengthen the small muscles of the hands.
· Critical Thinking Skills
The experiment ignites curiosity among children as they watch how the milk reacts when it touches the soap. They may ask “What causes the milk to move or swirl?
Learning moment
· Colours and pigments
Who does not colours? They brighten up our environment, modulate our emotions and make everything more cheerful. Explaining how colours work and why we see them as we see them can be a rich experience for children. The basics of colours are pigment - chemicals that reflect specific colours. For example, leaves are green because white light from the sun (composed of the 7 rainbow colours) hits the leaves, the green pigment absorbs all colours and reflects the green only. The green light hits our eyes and our brain reads it as green. Pigments are reflectors of the colours we see them and we use them in pretty much everything that has colours.
A bit more colours and pigments here.
Written by Jennifer Lee
College of New Caledonia Student
Digital Content Creation Course
Professor Melanie Law
Edited by Nikolas Zetouni
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