Welcome to another edition of STEAM Saturday! Today, we’re learning about capillary action and surface tension while doing the walking rainbow water project!
Here’s what you need to perform this simple experiment:
- Clear containers for water
- Food coloring (red, blue, and yellow)
- Paper towels
Fill three jars with water. Add red to one, yellow to another, and blue to a third. Talk to your children about the color wheel and how the primary colors combine to make other colors. Let them talk about which colors need to combine to create a traditional rainbow, and have them put the colors in order, with empty containers in between. Roll the paper towels into tube-like pieces and put one end in a full jar and another one in an empty jar.
The paper towels will start soaking up the water from the full jars and deposit them into the empty jars. The colored water in the empty jars will combine to create the remaining colors of the rainbow!
This activity can take up to 48 hours to fully complete, but in the meantime, you can teach your children about the science behind the experiment as you check on its progress. Click HERE to read about the science and view the full activity from STEAMsational.
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!
