What do we do at Out of School Time (OST) on a cold a rainy spring day? Turn elementary schoolers into scientists! This quick and easy (if messy!) oil and water experiment is one that our kids were amazed to see unfold, and are stoked to do again.
All you need for this experiment:
Paint Palettes
Water
4 Colors of marker
Milk
Vinegar
Straws
Pipettes
Oil
Food Coloring
*A strong commitment to cleaning up*
Let’s do it! To mix each liquid, the kids used their fingers on the straws to suction some vinegar, oil, water, and milk into the palette. They looked at each combination to decide if the liquids mixed or didn’t. Moreover, students found oil and water do not mix, but oil and vinegar do! Consequently, this part of the experiment, of course, yielded many sub-experiments into what each combination felt like… tested by sticking grubby kid fingers into each combination (fun!). After we looked at each combo, we added food coloring to the liquids- the red oil did NOT mix with the blue water….COOL!
The kids loved becoming chemical engineers, touching the mixtures, and watching some colors mix and others not! Definitely a great rainy day activity for our future scientists!
By Laura Finley
