It is something so easy to do and produces results immediately. Try it at home with your little ones and experience the wonder that we did here in class.
If you are a Teacher you would enjoy doing this with your students during the spring months due to its rainbow effects. You could add it to your spring theme in the classroom along with other activities.
The supply list needed for this fun little experiment is simple:
~ Small clear cups
~ Paper towels
~ Food coloring (stick to primary colors)
~ And of course...water.
The setup is quite simple. Take a peak at the pictures to see just how easy it is.
~ Line your cups in a row or as you can see in the pictures, a circle will work just fine.
~ Fill your cups with water. Not necessarily to the rim. You will want to leave some space so that you avoid overflow when it is time to add the paper towels.
((When adding food coloring you will want to use the same amount of drops in each cup))
~ Add a few drops of red food coloring to the first and the last cup.
~ Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the third cup.
~ Add a few drops of blue food coloring to the fifth cup.
Now, it's experiment time:
Cut your paper towels in half unless you have the "select-a-size." You won't need an entire paper towel because it will be entirely too bulky.Fold that half sheet in half lengthwise and then again lengthwise.
Place a paper towel in the first cup and bend it placing the other half in the cup next to it. (Ex: form a rainbow)
Place another paper towel in the second cup and forming the rainbow into the third and so on until you reach the end of the line.Immediately, you should notice the colored water starting its travel up the paper towels.
Eventually you will see how the colored water has traveled up the paper towel and down into the ends that are in the empty cups.
Those empty cups aren't there for decoration. They have their own purpose. There might be a little mixing action taking place within a few hours!
See? Super easy and fun. Enjoy!
