As children get excited to choose the colours while doing painting and colouring and ask, “Can I use this Colour? Can I mix these two Colours together?” The children often wonder which new colour they will get when they mix two colours together.
This gave Jaspreet an idea to create a provocation with mixing two different things together to see the results. She thought how will the children react when they mix different food colours with milk? Then what happens when they add soap to that milk with the food colouring? She gathered all the materials needed for the activity which included milk, different food colours, dish soap, some cotton swabs, and empty bowls.
As Jaspreet was setting up the art table for the activity, children got excited as she gathered all the materials needed. Alex, Emily, Rowan and Stephan came over in the first group. Emily asked, “What we are going to do with milk?” Alex saw the food colors and said, “I want to use blue color”. As Jaspreet started putting milk in small bowls, Stephan asked her surprisingly, “Why are you pouring milk in these bowls Jaspreet?” It seemed like they were getting so excited about what they were going to do today with the milk and the colors. Then Jaspreet explained to them that we will add some drops of food color in the milk and then some soap in it to see what happens when all three things mix together. Will all these three things mix together or not? And if they get mix together, what will happen?
Alex was the first one to try it. He chose blue and put some drops in his bowl of milk. And, then he thought for a moment and said, “Well! I want to put all three colours at same time in the milk.” He then put all three colours (red, blue and green) in his bowl and then took a cotton swab dipped in the dish soap and then into in milk. He observed a beautiful display of food colours spreading around in the milk as he put the cotton swab in.
Stéphane said, “Wow! this looks so beautiful. I want to try this too.” Then Stéphane, Rowan, and Emily tried the same thing in their milk bowls. Emily said, “It looks like a rainbow in the milk.” Then Jaspreet explained that milk is made up of minerals, proteins, and fats. When dish soap is added to the milk, the soap molecules run around and try to attach to the fat molecules in the milk. Thus, adding food colours in that milk and after adding dish soap creates a beautiful colourful display.
Leena, Frankie, Otis, Jack, Finley and Matilda came over in next group and tried the same
experiment. Jaspreet explained the process that was taking place and that is why we get to see the colourful display in the milk.
