neon flower experiment

Request Info

• First Name *
• Last Name *
• Preferred Schedule * Preferred Schedule Part-Time All Day
• Number of kids * Number of kids 1 2 3
• Questions? Comments?
• Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

5 Easy Science Experiments for Kids

Are you looking for some fun science experiments for kids? Whether you’re homeschooling or looking to have some fun at home, an enjoyable activity while learning about science sounds like a win! In this blog, we’re going to talk into detail about the materials needed, how to perform the experiments, and how to explain the experiment to your child. While all of these experiments are safe, please do not let your child(ren) perform them without an adult present. Let’s start learning!

1. Neon Flower: Experimenting with Transpiration, Cohesion, and Capillary Action

This fun experiment is a way to show your children exactly what plants do with the water we give them. They’ll be able to see the flowers change colors and become more vibrant the longer they’re placed in the water! Let’s get started!

Here are the material you will need:

• 3-6 white flowers (we recommend thick-stemmed Gerbera Daisies )
• Food coloring

Now, here are the steps to dying your flowers:

• Fill the four glasses with water.
• Squeeze 30 drops of desired food coloring into the four glasses and stir.
• Trim the flowers to fit in the glass.
• Gently place your flowers in your die.
• Watch your flowers change colors!

How To Explain the Science Behind Biocolor Flowers

Plants “drink” their water through their roots. Once inside the stem, tiny tubes that run up the stem called xylem serve as a transportation for the water to get to the plant’s leaves and flowers. A few of the processes that help the water travel up through the xylem are: transpiration , cohesion, and capillary action.

There are two things that combine to move water through plants — transpiration and cohesion. Transpiration occurs when the water evaporating from the leaves, buds, and petals pulls water up the stem of the plant. Cohesion is when the water that evaporates from the leaves “pulls up” other water molecules behind it to fill the space it left. This water movement process where plants are able to defy gravity and pull water up and into their leaves and flowers through tiny tubes is called capillary action.

2. A Volcanic Eruption: Experimenting with Acids and Bases

Creating a volcanic eruption to talk about acids and bases? Count us in! This activity can have your child(ren) engaged and excited to learn all about the eruption process. After getting the experiment ready, make sure to “erupt” your volcano outside to avoid cleaning up a mess or potentially damaging things inside the home. Let’s get learning!

Here are the materials to start this experiment:

• 10 ml of dish soap
• 100 ml of cold water
• 400 ml of white vinegar
• Food coloring (whatever color)
• Baking soda slurry (fill a cup about ½ with baking soda, then fill the rest of the way with water)
• Empty 2 liter soda bottle

Now, let’s talk about the steps to creating a volcanic eruption:

• Combine the vinegar, water, dish soap and 2 drops of food coloring into the empty soda bottle.
• Use a spoon to mix the baking soda slurry until it’s all a liquid.
• Pour the baking soda slurry into the soda bottle quickly and step back to see acids and bases react!

How To Explain the Science Behind This Volcanic Eruption

A chemical reaction is when one or more substances are combined to form one or more substances. In this case, when vinegar (one substance) and baking soda (another substance), combine, a chemical reaction takes place to produce a gas called carbon dioxide (resulting substance).

Have you ever experienced a coke getting too shook up so much that when you open it, the coke sprays everywhere? This is the same method! There isn’t enough room in the bottle for the gas to spread out so it leaves through the opening super quick causing an eruption!

3. Growing A Bean: Experimenting with Germination

Growing a bean can certainly take time. This experiment will be a fun process for your child(ren) to check up on regularly! They’ll love seeing the steps and watching their bean sprout every day. Once it gets to a certain point (around two weeks), you are more than welcome to transplant it into a garden or bigger pot. Give it a try!

The materials for this experiment are:

• 1 pinto bean
• 1 paper towel
• 1 Ziploc bag
• Spray bottle for holding water

Here are the steps for growing your bean:

• Dampen paper towel with spray bottle
• Place wet paper towel in Ziploc Bag
• Place your bean on top of wet paper towel
• Close Ziploc Bag
• Place Ziploc Bag in a warm, sunny spot (window seal is a good place)
• Add water to paper towel when it dries out
• Observe your plant growing in 3-5 days!

How To Explain the Science Behind Your Blossoming Bean

This experiment is all about germination ! This means that the plant is sprouting it’s roots. Usually when planting flowers or vegetables you can’t see the sprouts because they’re under ground in the soil. In this experiment, the bean is getting a moist place to grow plus some sun so you can see the whole process right before your eyes! If you want to observe more, place another bean sprout in a dark area to compare the two.

4. Crystal Candy: Experimenting with Crystallization

Looking for an experiment that’s both educational and tasty? Try this crystallization experiment! Whether you make a necklace out of the crystals, observe them, or eat them, these magical growing crystals can be a hit for your child(ren).

• A piece of thick string, about 6 inches
• A pencil or popsicle stick
• A paper clip (or large plastic bead)
• 1 cup of water
• 2 cups of sugar
• A mason jar

Here are the steps for your crystal candy:

• Tie one end of the string to the middle of the popsicle stick or pencil.
• Tie the other end around the paper clip or bead.
• Next, lay the popsicle stick or pencil across the top of a jar so that the string hangs down the middle of the jar. Make sure that it’s not touching the bottom (but close) or the sides of the jar. The string will act as a seed for the crystal. After this, remove them from the jar and set them aside to use later.
• Pour the water into a pan and bring it to boil.
• Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the boiling water, stir it until it dissolves.
• Repeat this step until all of the sugar has been dissolved. This will take time and patience and it will take longer for the sugar to dissolve each time. Be sure you don’t give up too soon in order to make a “supersaturated solution!”
• Carefully pour the hot sugar solution into the jar and fill it almost all of the way to the top. Please do not let your child do this themselves!
• Put your pencil or popsicle back on top and lower the bead or paperclip back inside of the jar, just like you practiced before. Allow the jar to cool and put it someplace where it will not be disturbed.
• Next, it’s time to wait. Check on it every day to see the crystals start to grow, but be very careful not to disturb it. The longer you wait the bigger it will get.

How To Explain the Science Behind Your Crystal Candy

Mixing the water and the sugar creates a supersaturated solution ! This is because the water could only hold the sugar if both were very hot. As the water cools the sugar “comes out” of the solution and forms back into sugar crystals on your string. The string and paper clip act as a home that the crystals can start to grow on. With some luck and patience, you’ll create some magical crystals! Enjoy!

5. Storm in a Glass: Experimenting with the Water Cycle

Wanting to educate your child(ren) on the water cycle? This “storm in a glass” experiment will be a fun way to explain how clouds work and why they cause a storm. Let’s learn more!

• Shaving cream
• A large glass
• Food coloring (blue)

The steps to create your storm in a glass are:

• Fill the glass 1/2 full with water
• Spray some shaving cream on top of the water to fill the glass to ¾ full.
• Use your finger or a spoon to spread the shaving cream evenly over the top of the water.The top of the shaving cream should be flat.
• Mix ½-cup water with 10 drops of food coloring in a separate container.
• Gently add the colored water, spoonful by spoonful, to the top of the shaving cream. When it gets too heavy, watch it storm!

How To Explain the Science Behind Your Storm in a Glass

Those big white things in the sky are called clouds, and they hold water. Actually, they can hold millions of gallons of water! In our experiment, the layer of shaving cream is our pretend cloud. The shaving cream layer also holds water. Once too much water gets in the cloud, they get really heavy and ultimately the water falls out of the cloud as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. This is called precipitation!

Explore My ChildCare Academy

Searching for a daycare that sees the importance of science and alternative methods of learning? At My Childcare Academy, we believe that these two aspects are a big part of child development. Call us today to learn more about us and how we can help your child learn and grow!

• arts & crafts
• _famous artists
• _process art
• _paint recipes
• _keepsake crafts
• _book activities
• _sensory bins
• _sensory play recipes
• _science experiments
• _free printables
• _colouring pages
• _valentines day
• _st patrick's day
• _mother's day
• _father's day
• _thanksgiving

Colour Changing Flowers Science Experiment - A fun science project for kids

MORE FUN SCIENCE PROJECTS FOR KIDS

Colour changing flowers science experiement for preschoolers.

Supplies needed for the colour changing flowers science experiment

• White flowers
• Glass jars (we used baby food jars)
• Liquid water colour or food colouring

What are the best flowers to use for the colour changing flower experiment?

How to set up the colour changing flowers experiment 

Step 1: get your supplies ready for the flower experiment and predict what will happen.

STEP 2: Fill glass jars with coloured water

STEP 3: Prepare the flowers

Step 4: place the flowers into the coloured water .

How long does it take to change the colour of a flower with food colouring or liquid watercolour?

The science behind the colour changing flowers science experiment. 

Cool Science Experiments for Preschoolers (and older kids too!)

• — Share It —

No comments

Hello & Welcome!

Follow By Email

Join the fun subscribe to our newsletter to have fun ideas delivered to your inbox subscribe.

Get FREE craft and activity ideas

Join our newsletter to have ideas delivered to your inbox each week!

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Copyright Messy Little Monster . Blog design by Designs by Kassie . Privacy Policy Here

Get Your ALL ACCESS Shop Pass here →

Color Changing Flowers

A color changing flower experiment is a wonderfully simple science experiment you can do any time of the year. Also great for both the Spring season, Valentine’s Day or St Patrick’s Day! Fun kitchen science that is super easy to set up and is perfect for home or in the classroom. We love science activities for all seasons!

Explore Color Changing Flowers For Spring Science

Why not pick up some simple white flowers at the grocery store and pull out the food coloring. This color changing flower science experiment is a STEMy activity (pun intended).

Get ready to add this simple color changing carnations experiment to your spring STEM lesson plans this season.

Let’s get started if you want to learn about how water moves through plants and how the plant’s petals can change color. While you’re at it, make sure to check out these other fun  Spring STEM activities.

Plus, you don’t have just to use carnations, either. Observe capillary action with this walking water experiment, too! Learn all about capillary action with a hands-on science experiment.

Tips For Setting Up Your Experiment

Use a timer.

Although this color-changing flowers science project takes some time to see the results fully, check in on it occasionally and observe the changes in the flowers.

Set a timer every so often and have your kids record any changes over a day! Set it up in the morning and observe the changes at different times.

Apply The Scientific Method

You can turn these color changing flower activities into a science experiment in a couple of ways:

• Compare results using different types of white flowers. Does the type of flower make a difference?
• Keep the type of white flower the same, but try different colors in the water to see if that makes a difference.

Learn more about applying the scientific method for kids and how to choose variables .

Give It A Valentine’s Day or St Patrick’s Day Theme

This experiment is fun and easy for Valentine’s Day science or St Patrick’s Day STEM activities . All you need to do is change out the colors of the food coloring you use. Choose pink for Valentine’s Day and green for a St Patrick’s Day theme.

Color Changing Flower Experiment

• White flowers (experiment with different varieties)
• Vases or mason jars
• Food coloring

Instructions:

STEP 1:   Trim the stems of the white flowers (carnations work really well but these are what our local store had at the time) at an angle under water.

STEP 2: Squirt several drops of each color food into different glasses and fill halfway with water.

STEP 3: Place one flower into each jar of water.

STEP 4: Watch your carnations change color.

The Science of Color Changing Flowers

Turn beautiful white carnations into pink, blue or even green flowers. But how does it work?

The cut flowers take up the colored water through their stem and the water moves from the stem to the flowers and leaves. Water travels up tiny tubes in the plant by a process called capillary action . Putting a colored dye in the water in the vase allows us to observe capillary action at work.

What is capillary action?

Capillary action is the ability of a liquid (our colored water) to flow in narrow spaces (the flower stem) without the help of an outside force, like gravity.

As water evaporates from a plant, it is able to be pull up more water through the plant’s stem. As it does so, it attracts more water to come alongside it. This is called transpiration and cohesion.

Capillary action relies on the cohesive and adhesive properties of water molecules. Water molecules are attracted to each other (cohesion) and to the walls of the capillaries (adhesion). These properties help water move against gravity and through narrow spaces.

Transpiration is the process where water vapor leaves the plant through the leaves. As water evaporates from the leaves, it creates a negative pressure (tension) in the xylem, pulling more water up from the roots.

Helpful Resources To Get You Started

Here are a few resources that will help you introduce science more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident yourself when presenting materials. You’ll find helpful free printables throughout.

• Best Science Practices (as it relates to the scientific method)
• Science Vocabulary
• 8 Science Books for Kids
• All About Scientists
• Free Science Worksheets
• Science Supplies List
• Science Tools for Kids

Free Printable Spring STEM Cards

Free spring stem guide and challenge cards.

You’ll also be sent weekly projects to your inbox! We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.

Check out more fun spring science ideas!

Check out our list of plant activities for preschoolers , and plant experiments for elementary . Here’s a few of our favorites…

• Start a Seed Germination Jar
• How Do Leaves Drink?
• How Do Trees Breathe?
• Make Homemade Seed Bombs

Printable Spring Activities Pack

If you’re looking to grab all of the printables in one convenient place plus exclusives with a spring theme, our 300+ page Spring STEM Project Pack is what you need!

Weather, geology, plants, life cycles, and more!

11 Comments

Great ideas. Really useful. Thanks a lot.

• Pingback: Valentines Day STEM Activities and Challenges for Kids
• Pingback: Simple Spring Science and STEAM Activities
• Pingback: A Bazillion Projects for A Wrinkle in Time - Grounded Parents
• Pingback: St Patricks Day STEM and Science Activities for Kids
• Pingback: St Patricks Day Challenge Cards for Science and STEM Activities
• Pingback: Spring Activities For Preschoolers Science | Little Bins for Little Hands
• Pingback: Plant Activities For Preschool | Little Bins for Little Hands
• Pingback: Charging Up for a Healthy Summer! | My YMCA Detroit Community
• Pingback: 25+ Playful Preschool Learning Activities | Little Bins for Little Hands
• Pingback: Flower Activities for Kids | There's Just One Mommy

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to receive a free 5-Day STEM Challenge Guide

~ projects to try now ~.

Topbar Social Icons

Simple Science: Color Changing Flowers

@FIRSTGRADEBUDDIES

Amazing Color Changing Flowers Experiment

Categories STEM Activities

Learn about how plants drink water with capillary action in this super-fun color changing flowers experiment where the flowers burst into a rainbow of color! Kids of all ages will love it! 

Rainbows are totally amazing, and so are flowers. Combine them in this super-fun color-changing flowers science experiment. It’s a fun addition to rainbow science experiments !

Rainbow Flowers Capillary Action Science Experiment

I n this experiment, you can see it happen because the flowers will gradually change color!

But not always like you think. Our flowers changed color at the very tips first!

The Science: Capillary Action for Kids

The reason flowers change color has to do with how they soak up water.

All plants require water to survive, but they drink it from the ground. So, to move it from the ground to the leaves, plants use what is called “capillary action” to move the liquid to the top of the plant.

Basically, this happens by water evaporating in the leaves, causing a pressure change in the stem that helps the liquid from the roots rise to the surface.

Why do flowers change color with food coloring?

Flowers change color with food coloring due to capillary action. Plants take up water through the roots or stem and bring it up to the flower petals. When the water is dyed, the color moves along with the water and dyes white leaves colors!

Why would capillary action be critical for plants to survive?

Water doesn’t usually travel vertically due to gravity. So that means, if there wasn’t capillary action involved, plants could only get water if their roots were directly touching water. That would be almost impossible for plants to do!

If we didn’t have capillary action, plants would have evolved another way to get water. Possibly by being able to move around like animals and humans!

This experiment would also be a fun addition to science experiments for St. Patrick’s Day , spring science experiments, St Patrick’s Day STEM activities and spring STEM activates !

What you’ll need for the rainbow flowers experiment:

• White flowers (carnations are best)
• Liquid food coloring  (we order from Amazon because it can be hard to find the right kind in stores)
• 6 mason jars

How to Do the Capillary Action Experiment with Flowers

Fill each jar with about 6 ounces of water. Place one color of the rainbow in each jar. We used just about a full container of liquid dye in each container to get the colors we did, but we did have too much water to begin with.

Start with about half a container of dye and go from there.

Cut each white flower stem at an angle and place in the water.

Put your flowers in a sunny place, and wait!

What happens when you put white flowers in colored water

Within 3 days you should see distinct colors start to emerge. Keep your flowers in the colored water until they start to wilt for maximum color absorption.

Pro tip: If your flowers don’t appear to be changing color within 3 days or so, you probably are A, using a less-than-ideal type of flower like we were (carnations are best, turns out), or B, didn’t put enough dye in the jars. To get our flowers to change color, we had to use nearly a whole bottle of liquid dye per jar.

The type of dye also matters. We tried gel food coloring first, but it wasn’t strong enough to dye the flowers.

More Rainbow Science for Kids

Fizzing Rainbow Experiment for Toddlers

Rainbow Slime

Walking Rainbow Experiment

Rainbow rice sensory bin

Share this project with a friend!