Yesterday we had fun with food coloring. I don't use it in actual food (petroleum based dyes that are banned in some countries, yum) but bought some for a couple of art/science experiments. First we made swirly art with milk. She put a few drops of food coloring into a bowl with a shallow layer of milk (will not work with skim, needs to be whole or at least 2%). Then she dragged a q-tip dipped in dish soap across the surface to make swirls, which I explained was a reaction between the soap and the fats in the milk. It was really cool to watch, however I strongly suggest covering your workspace in newspaper, as we now have some rather bright colored stains on our unfinished butcher block island to remind us of this project...
Then we moved on to making gluten free play dough from a recipe I found here. She was quite thrilled to be using the stove on her own for the first time, which reminds me that I keep meaning to do a kitchen skills day soon...
The dough did not turn out quite as well as we'd hoped, probably because I had to substitute tapioca starch for cornstarch. Still, it was fun to make and she enjoyed playing with it, even though it wasn't quite as doughy as it should have been.
I think our next food coloring project will be Borax Bouncy Balls. And this time I will buy some corn starch just for the project, and resist the urge to use it for a quick gravy. :P
No comments:
Post a Comment