Kitchen science is one of my favorite things…playing with the same old materials in new ways brings up lots of great questions! This little activity is a great way to do a child-led science experiment. Making their own choices gives kids power!
Talk with your children about our magic science words for the activity: mixture and solution. A mixture is when you put two substances together but they do not fully combine and each retains their own properties (sand and water). A solution is when you put two substances together and they combine completely, making a homogeneous combination (KoolAid powder and water).
Incorporating the Scientific Method into Mixing the Solutions:
We gathered our materials. My son chose what we would mix into the water…oil, flour, sugar, blue food coloring drops, sand, & red powdered paint.
We made our predictions on which would become a solution & which would remain a mixture. Reese was in charge of mixing & observing.
We watched to see if our predictions were correct. We used a coffee filter to see if we could separate the particles…
Once we were finished, we recorded our observations… what were the results from the potions we created??
I’m still not sure about the flour though. When we stirred it, it looked like it had completely dissolved and was gone. But after it sat and I was cleaning up our things, I noticed a big lump of flour at the bottom of the glass, so I guess it remained a mixture.
Science with kids doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive – and often science is silly and fun. See what fun ideas your kids can come up with…what mixes with water from your house?
About Heather
This is a great idea! My kids love to cook with me in the kitchen, we will work on this today. Thank you for posting!
Great! Let us know how it goes! I’ll be curious to know what they chose to mix with the water!
I love kitchen science! Great pics, too.
We love kitchen science activities! Our favorite is of course the volcano baking soda/vinegar one… but I am always looking for new ideas so we don’t have to do the same thing over and over again like my son would like. Pinning this!
Kristina–check out this idea on a new, fun way to play with baking soda & vinegar! PERFECT for little hands! http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/exploring-chemical-reactions-vinegar-dropping/
And the vinegar lasts WAY longer!
What fun ideas! My older two are really starting to take an interest in cooking and being in the kitchen helping out, this is a great activity for them!