So I should not have been surprised when she picked SCIENCE as the theme of her birthday party this year. We did a bunch of fun experiments with the girls and it actually turned out to be one of the most entertaining birthday parties ever.
For this experiment you will need:
- whole milk
- pie tin or glass dish
- food coloring
- cotton swab
- liquid hand soap or dish soap
Why does this happen (Explained by Chemistry.about.com)
Milk consists of a lot of different types of molecules, including fat, protein, sugars, vitamins, and minerals. If you had just touched a clean cotton swab to the milk (try it!), not much would have happened. The cotton is absorbent, so you would have created a current in the milk, but you wouldn’t have seen anything especially dramatic happen.
When you introduce detergent to the milk, several things happen at once. The detergent lowers the surface tension of the liquid so that the food coloring is free to flow throughout the milk. The detergent reacts with the protein in the milk, altering the shape of those molecules and setting them in motion. The reaction between the detergent and the fat forms micelles, which is how detergent helps to lift grease off of dirty dishes. As the micelles form, the pigments in the food coloring get pushed around. Eventually equilibrium is reached, but the swirling of the colors continues for quite a while before stopping.
More activities, projects and fun things to do with your kids.
Dirt and Worms ~ Fun summer recipe for kids
Make your own Crayons ~ Activities to do with kids
Be a Back Yard Detective ~ Activities to do with kids
Wiggle Worm Game ~ Games to do with kids
Make your own Bean Bag Toss ~ Games to do with Kids
Watch a Local Race ~ Frugal Family Activities to do
Corn Starch Gak Science Project to do with kids
Color Collage with ads from the paper
DIY Chime Set ~ Music Fun For Kids
Recipe for Homemade Slime
Under the Sea Art Project for kids
Balloon Barrettes DIY Kids Fashion
Lady Bugs made out of an egg carton
Exploding Soap ~ Microwave Science For Kids
Horse made out of a pop bottle
Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids ~ Paper Turkeys
Easy Kid Games ~ Turn Easter Eggs Into Reading Games for Kids
Math Games For Kids
Learn to tell time ~ Time Games for kids
SNOW-DAY ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS ~ SNOWMAN COOKIES
NEW YEARS EVE ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS~ “GOODY BAGS”
DIY~ MEMORY MAKING CHRISTMAS DECORATION
LEAF BUILDING FORT ~ HOURS OF FUN FOR KIDS!
SHARPIE TIE DIE SHIRTS ~ EASY SUMMER ACTIVES FOR KIDS
FIREWORKS ~ JULY 4TH CRAFTS FOR KIDS, QUICK AND EASY
VALENTINE CRAFT FOR KIDS ~ HIDDEN MESSAGE HEARTS, QUICK AND EASY
GROUNDHOG DAY PUDDING CUP SNACKS
FROZEN DRINKS
Frozen Popcorn
Frozen Snowball Pops
FROZEN Rice Krispy Treats
Blue Jello Cake Recipe
HOW TO MAKE MEMORY PLATE
EDIBLE PAINTED BREAD
Hope he had fun!
What a fun idea!
I did this with my daughter then we decided to drop a piece of white paper on top of it, when you take it off it looks tie dyed we used them as card stock and made gifts. Use a heavy paper construction works best.
I sure don’t remember it.
Such a fun project! I’m doing this with Wesley tonight
Alizum Elena Shurrie
Milk, food color and liquid soap
Got ya 🙂
My silly boys…. glad they thought they were funny!
Hope they love it
NOPE this was cold
LOVE that we can connect from people all over the world, thanks for watching!
Let me know how it works!!!
THANKS FOR WATCHING
We did this a couple years ago at your house
That was so fun! Thank you!
Brandi Smoot – https://www.facebook.com/AThriftyMom/videos
How can i see your other projects?
When are you doing the next project?
I meant unmeasy…oops
My 3 yr old girl is laughing w your boys! She says they are funny
I love how uneasy it is…Awesome Idea!
Styrofoam plates are horrible for the environment and aren’t recyclable.
My girls love doing this but with paper in a zip lock bag
Do you homeschool?
With the different milks you can find which one isolates the dye the most and which one spreads it the dye more easily
No worries, your amazing!
Try just two color ?
What are you using?
Amazing! Cooper, Bella and Monet (like the painter) are dying to do this at home! Thank you!!
I love this project!
Does the milk have to be warm?
Tuned in from Salinas, California
This is neat
Hi from Tanzania
Still can see u.
Still here. Hi from Montana!
Yes watching from the UK
Everything is fine
5-year-old Reese just crawled into my lap to watch!
Yeah! I didn’t miss it!!!!
I wonder if you can you do this with soy or rice milk? My kiddo is allergic to dairy. I might test it out.
Amaiyah and sorayah say this is amazing and want to try this with friend in the park
This is so cool
What is this? It’s so cool
My 6 year Evan and 8 year old Fred and 3 year old Samantha are all liking this and now they want to do it
Mariahly Mirna myranda said we are doing this tonight
Awesome!!!! Gonna have to try it with my kids
Jennifer from MI says hi
The speeds of the colors moving away changed with the fat content in the milk
Cami from Cincinnati says – That’s cool
That’s neat,,never seen it done
7-year-old Hudson is watching from Kansas City
In chemistry we also tested it with 2% ,whole milk and half and half and we were supposed to test the differences
Grayson in CA says that is OH-mazing!
Hi from Wrexham in north wales uk ☺️X X X
Hi from Tanzania- East Africa
Hello from London uk can’t wait to try this out wth my girls
HI from cisco love this
Hello from cold weather Michigan
hello from Pennsylvania 🙂 I did this in chemistry my junior year of high school 🙂
You can find how to do the Milk experiment here–> http://athriftymom.com/magical-moving-milk-experiment-easy-science-experiments-for-kids/
Your link not works
It MOVES all by itself!!!!!
I actually did that with glue with some kids in a class to make art. It takes a few days for the glue to dry and you do it in Styrofoam plates.–when it dries completely you basically have a clear/colorful piece of art to hang in front of the window.
Warming up the milk is also a fun twist.
It is pretty cool… the more soap the faster it moves and swirls
My kids loved doing this experiment!