How many of you have tried the Magic Milk experiment with your kids and had fun watching all the colors swirling in a bowl of milk? My co-worker recently introduced me to a similar experiment, this time using glue! I must say…using glue was way cooler to watch than the milk version. For one, it’s much slower (because the glue is thinker) and second, it’s beautiful watching the food coloring traveling through the glue.
After my co-worker showed this to me, I went home and showed my daughter this experiment. She was just as awe struck as I was, and repeated the experiment several times.
Here are some things we noticed while conducting this experiment. We tried 8 different food colors (yellow, dark green, red, dark blue, light blue, pink, purple and light green) and noticed that the pink and purple did not work as well. We also tried using both white glue and clear glue. White glue definitely needs water to thin it out a bit so the colors can spread easily. Clear glue however seems to be thinner and it worked better when we didn’t mix it with water.
Supplies:
• Bowl
• Spoon
• Elmer’s glue (white and clear)
• Water
• Chef’s squeeze bottle
• Food coloring
• Liquid dish detergent
• Paper plates
Directions:
Place liquid dish detergent in a Chef’s squeeze bottle and set aside. Next place about 1 cup of glue in a bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of water. Mix with a spoon. Pour some of the glue and water mixture onto a paper plate…enough to have a thin covering of glue. Tilt the plate until the glue and water mixture completely covers the surface.
Place two or three drops each of different colored food coloring on the glue solution.
Squeeze a drop of dish soap onto each food coloring drop and watch the magic begin.
Isn’t this beautiful? It’s better seeing it in person. This was done in white glue.
Here is another one done in white glue…with the colors we found that work best.
This particular one was created in clear glue (no water). It sort of reminded me of a beta fish swimming through the water.
Click our You Tube video below for more specific instructions by my daughter and to see this tie-dye glue in action. (Video was created by my son).