Color Changing Carnations

What You Need:

• White carnation
• Glass jar
• Water
• Blue food coloring
• Scissors

What You Do:

1. Have your child fill the glass jar with about a cup of water.
2. Help them squeeze five drops of blue food coloring into the jar.
3. Let them use a spoon to gently stir the water and food coloring.
4. Use scissors to trim off the last two inches of the white carnation's stem.
5. Have your child place the carnation in the glass jar.
6. Set the jar in a warm space and talk with your child about what a plant needs to survive. They probably knows by now that plants need water, but do they know how plants take in the water? Humans drink water -- what do plants do?
7. Check back on the carnation in about 24 hours.
8. 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!