Magic Milk Experiment Using Water

 

We’ve done the Magic Milk Experiment a LOT! E turned it into pretty cool process art and has asked to do it over and over and over again.

One day, we didn’t have any milk left, but E really really wanted to do her process art. Finally, she suggested that we use water instead of milk.

I knew that the actual science part wasn’t going to work with water, but I was curious about the art aspect – how would the liquid watercolors and glitter behave on top of plain water? Would the experience inspire E in different ways?

I wasn’t sure if she knew that it wouldn’t work like milk did. As it turned out, she definitely proceeded differently than she did all those times when we had milk, so I think she had an idea.

 

(E was 3 years and 7 months old.)

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

 

 

 Materials for the Magic Milk Experiment using Water:

• Water.
• Liquid watercolors or food coloring.
• Eye dropper(s).
• Plate.
• Dish soap.
• Cups for the watercolors and dish soap.
• Q-tips.
• Glitter (optional).

 

 

 

We poured a little water into our plate to cover the bottom, then set up the liquid watercolors that E chose along with a little dish soap in applesauce cups. It was the exact same set up we used when we did Magic Milk Process Art – the water was the only difference. The white plate further masked the visual difference between both science projects.

E started dropping the watercolors into the plate as usual. They actually swirled together not unlike the way they did in the milk. It looked quite pretty and colorful!

 

 

When E had decided that she’d used enough colors, she started stirring the water with her eye dropper.

 

 

She did the same thing when we used milk but in those cases, she’d always use the dish soap first. I just kept watching.

After all the colors had been mixed completely and the water had turned a murky brown, she grabbed her q-tip, dipped it in the dish soap and dunked it into the water.

 

 

Nothing happened. We talked a little about how the water doesn’t have any fat that the dish soap can attach to, so the soap just dissolves. {For more info on the science behind this experiment, check out Color Changing Milk on Steve Spangler Science.}

E didn’t have a problem with the dish soap not doing anything she could see. She happily grabbed her glitter shaker and added glitter to the brown water. A LOT of glitter.

 

 

She mixed it around with her hand

 

 

and then asked for a piece of paper to make a print!

 

 

At this point, there really wasn’t a design to transfer but E did end up with pretty glittered paper 😉

 

 

 

 

Have you tried the magic milk experiment? Have you tried it using water? Leave a comment – and feel free to include a link if you’ve written about it!

 

 

 

If you like this post, click here to subscribe to my newsletter and receive an email once a week when new posts are published, or to my RSS feed.

Also make sure to follow me on Pinterest to stay up to date with all we do, and for lots of great ideas from others!

If you prefer Facebook, I’d love to connect with you there: Like and drop me a line on my Facebook page, where I share my own posts and those of others every day!