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Food Coloring

Make different colors and shades with food coloring and water.

Materials

  • food coloring (red, blue, yellow)
  • plastic bottles filled with colored water
  • white ice cube trays
  • eyedroppers/pipettes
  • cups of clear water
  • optional: clear plastic egg cartons to mix food coloring in and a light table to shine light through the food coloring in the cartons

Directions

During Week 2, the focus is on mixing colors to make a new color. Place two colors of water—for example, red and yellow—in two compartments of the ice cube tray and have children use pipettes to mix these two colors. They can then use clear water to make many different shades of the resulting color. Each day, give them a choice of colors to mix. Children can record their results with crayons and paper, or even photographs.