Activity Title: Color-Changing Flower Science Experiment
Age Group(s):
- PreSchool
DESCRIPTION:
Learn about how flowers "drink" water in this simple science experiment!
What do I need?
For this activity, you will need the following items:
1. A couple stems of white flowers, like white carnations.
2. Food coloring (3 or more colors)
3. Water
4. Plastic containers (3 or more containers)
How do we do it?
1. Fill each of the plastic containers with water – about half way.
2. Add some drops of food coloring to the water – a different color in each cup.
3. Cut a small piece of the stem off of the flower.
4. Put the flower in the container of food coloring and water mixture.
5. Check every few hours to see how the petals are changing color.
6. By the next day, the petals of the flower will turn from white to the color of the food coloring.
What is the science behind it?
Plants need three things to grow – water, light and food. If the flower is planted in soil, the roots of the plant get the water from the soil and then the water travels up through its stem. However, if the flower is in a container of water, it doesn't have any roots so it just sucks up the water through its stem.
The leaves and petals of plants have lots of teeny-tiny holes called stomates which are too small to see. Water evaporates through these holes and this process is called transpiration. After the water evaporates, the plant will draw more water it needs to grow. The petals change color because the food coloring travels up the stem of the flower as the water is sucked up!
