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Learning to love science has become a little hobby of mine, mainly because of my son's love and interest in science, but because through basic science experiments even the smallest of minds can learn and experience. An interest is triggered that they will never forget.

We are going to start small and then go on and start to explore more.

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So today we will be working with milk, dish soap and food coloring.

Just imagine the endless possibilities to this experiment.

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Doing Milk Paper Art

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You will need the following:

1. Milk
2. Food Coloring
3. Dish Soap
4. Droppers
5. Toothpicks
6. Tray or a shallow dish.

Instructions

1. Cut the paper you are going to use down to a size that easily fits into your tray.
2. Mix about 3-4 tablespoons of milk to the tray.
3. Take the dropper and drop in about two drops of each color.
4. Add some dollops of dish soap around the corners of the tray.
5. Take the toothpick and draw streaks through the milk to gently mix the colors.
6. Take your paper and place it on top of the colored milk.
7. Lift the paper up and place it gently on a flat surface. Let it dry.

Video tutorial

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The Science behind the experiment

Like all little scientist, my little one wondered why the milk and food coloring didn’t mix. The reason is that the molecules in the dish soap is attracted to the fat molecules in the milk. The dish soap molecules basically chases the fat molecules of the milk around trying to “catch” it. This causes the bursting look. When the molecules have found each other, then only will everything begin to mix.

Sources

1. Source 1
2. Source 2

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