Color Mixing: Milk, Food Coloring and Soap

I was looking for a fun, short activity for us to do one afternoon recently. I had seen videos on You Tube of mixing colors using milk, food colors and soap and thought my daughters would have fun with it too.

The materials needed for this activity are food coloring, milk (probably at least 2% or whole since it requires fat in the milk to work-we used whole milk) liquid dish soap, a bowl, and a cotton swab. (Aprons too since the food coloring is messy)

We poured the milk into the bowl, and added a few drops of each color food coloring into the milk. The cotton swab was then dipped into the dish soap and then into the milk. (Dip rather than stir.)

My daughters were so excited watching the colors move and swirl around in the bowl after the cotton swab entered the milk. The reaction between the soap and milk creates movement.

They both experimented twice because they enjoyed it so much. To see the activity in action go on You Tube (lots of people have posted ) for a better idea of the movement and technique.