Valentine’s Day is less than a week away, and we are spreading some more love with another Valentine’s STEAM project on this STEAM Saturday! This week, you and your littlest love can explore the concept of density while making a Layered Love Potion!
Here’s what you’ll need to make your love potion! Note that many of these items can be found around your home. If you have all of them, that’s wonderful, but if not, you can still make your love potion, but with fewer layers!
- Clear Bottle, Jar, or Glass
- Corn Syrup
- Milk
- Dish Soap (bonus if it’s a fun, Valentine’s-y color)
- Water
- Baby Oil
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Food Coloring
- Measuring Cup
- Squirt Bottle, Syringe, or Baster
- Funnel
First, have your child pour some of the corn syrup into a measuring cup. The amount of each liquid that you use for this experiment will depend on the size of the container you are using, so do your best to eyeball approximately 1/6th of the space available. Add some food coloring to your corn syrup and have your child stir it in. What does he/she observe about the corn syrup? Is it thick or thin? If you have a funnel, use it to pour the corn syrup into your potion bottle.
Next, have your child dye some milk and squirt or pour it into your container. Then add the dish soap, dyed water, baby oil, and dyed rubbing alcohol. With each layer, ask your child to observe the liquid. How is each liquid different from the others? Be sure to add each layer slowly and carefully so that the liquids don’t mix.
For some extra fun, you can sprinkle some glitter into your potion, or add other small items from around your house and guess which layer of liquid the objects will land on!
So, what is the science behind your beautiful, layered love potion? Each liquid in your magic potion has a different density. Density is essentially the measure of how heavy something is for its size. If you had the same amount of each liquid in your potion, each one would weigh something different. Another way to say this is that each one has a different mass. The corn syrup has the highest mass, and so it has ended up on the bottom of your bottle. Each additional liquid is lighter, leading to the neat layers you see in your potion!
You can also watch the video below to see the experiment in action!
As always, be as creative as you want, and above all, have lots of fun learning together!
We’ll see you right back here next Saturday for another STEAM Saturday activity! Scroll through the rest of our website to learn how Critchlow Adkins is Building Brighter Futures for the children and families we serve!
