Preschool Science Fun: Color Changing Flowers

When I was 4, my grandma (who we call Mamarie), took me on a walk where we picked some white "flowers." They were pretty weeds. We brought them back to her house and she showed me something that has stuck with me ever since. (Just proof that experiences and time invested will stick with your child both in knowledge and in forming positive relationships).

She got all the food coloring she had and mixed each color individually into a cup of water each. Then, she stuck those white flowers in the colored water and with time, I saw that each flower was no longer white, but the color of the water it was placed in! I was insanely amazed and it has truly stuck with me ever since.

So I was out mowing my lawn and saw those exact pretty weeds growing in a gulley and I went and clipped them. I set Ellie up to show her this cool science my Mamarie had taught me. This was cool, even for a 21 month old!

So here is what we did, super easy:

Supplies: * Food coloring
                * clear glasses
                * water
                * any white flower (or white flowering weed; bigger is better).

First, Ellie and I filled up 3 water glasses because we only happened to have 3 tubes of food coloring in the pantry. We had blue, yellow, and green. Red actually works best and I so wished we had it. Another time!

Pour in many drops of the food coloring and really change the color of that water! Ellie loved doing this. Many paper towels and wipes were involved, ha! But I did want her to be as hands on as possible and messes are fun so who cares?!

Then, simply place one flower into each color you have and give them time to "drink" and absorb the water. You will be able to see a gradual change in color and then an obvious color change to the white petals as time passes. In only 24 hours, it was most obvious that our blue water had transformed the flower into blue! Our green is subtle still yet obviously changing. Yellow has been a bit piddly. Its a very light color. Obviously bolder colors will be more dramatic! Another good lesson in this little experiment of play. Ellie even was so interested that she let me explain the science to her and she was telling it back to me! She has been watching her flowers and is very pleased. She most importantly just had fun doing something with mommy that involved water and flowers! Try it out! Super easy and sweet. Also, I took like a ton of photos because she is adorable! Enjoy!