The Firework Science Experiment

Photo via Unsplash.

by kristy jorgensen.

Art projects can be fun for the holidays, but why not throw a science project into the mix for your holiday fun? Fireworks are always a hit on the 4th of July. This experiment lets your littles create their own “fireworks” in their home, and it’s 100% safe and no loud, scary noises, either! Make a few attempts at this experiment with your nanny kids and record your findings. Does it work? Why or why not? What can we do differently the next time? Let us know how it worked for you!

Ingredients:

·         Two kids
·         Food coloring
·         Warm water
·         Clear jars or glasses
·         Vegetable oil (We had none on hand and attempted with olive oil)
·         Fork, for mixing

Attempt # 1

1.    We put ¾ cup of warm water in a clear glass.
2.    In another glass, we added 3 teaspoons of olive oil.
3.    We dropped a drop each of three different food colors into the oil and mixed it with a fork.
4.    Then, we poured the colored oil into the water.
5.    Observations: It looked cool, but we didn’t mix the food color enough and put way too much blue, so it overpowered the mixture and covered the other colors.

Attempt #2 & #3

1.    Repeat steps 1 & 2 from above.
2.    This time, we added drops of lighter colors (red, orange, and pink) to the oil, mixing it well with the fork until the dots became tinier.
3.    We poured the oil mixture into the glass with the water.
4.    Observations: Once the colors became “fireworks,” it turned the glass into one color. We added a darker color to see what would happen. It looked cool, but was not quite what we had in mind!

Attempt # 4

1.    Repeat steps 1 & 2 from above.
2.    This time, we placed small drops of all the colors into the oil (one dot each).
3.    We put some firework sounds on for dramatic effects.
4.    The, we poured the oil mixture into the water glass.
5.    Observations: After three interesting attempts," we finally created “fireworks” of all different colors!

*This experiment might have gone better if we had used vegetable oil. Try it with both and see the different results!

Happy Fourth of July!
#thecreativenanny