White flower today, blue flower tomorrow! Give your science savvy kindergartener a lesson in plant science with this fun carnation experiment. By the end, he'll have some new knowledge about plants and a cool gift for a friend.
What You Need:
- White carnation
- Glass jar
- Water
- Blue food coloring
- Scissors
What You Do:
- Have your child fill the glass jar with about a cup of water.
- Help him squeeze five drops of blue food coloring into the jar.
- Let him use a spoon to gently stir the water and food coloring.
- Use scissors to trim off the last two inches of the white carnation's stem.
- Have your child place the carnation in the glass jar.
- Set the jar in a warm space and talk with your child about what a plant needs to survive. He probably knows by now that plants need water, but does he know how plants take in the water? Humans drink water -- what do plants do?
- Check back on the carnation in about 24 hours.
- Can your child see the effects of the blue water on the carnation? There should be little blue lines extending from the flower's stem to the petals.
Continue this color changing experiment with different types of flowers and dyes. Does your kindergartener think red food coloring or green food coloring will change anything? What will happen if you left a flower in the colored water for a whole week instead of just a day? There's only one way to find out!
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