Jackie H Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 We did this activity last year on bonfire night and our children spent all day at the messy table. You need to put milk in a large container. Drop two or three drops of food colouring in the middle and give the children a cotton bud soaked in cooking oil. When they place the bud in the milk mixture the food colouring shoots off in all direction. You can repeat putting the bud in the milk and the fireworks continue to change. See the photos
Panders Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 I love it Jackie - does the milk need to be whole milk, or will semi-skimmed still do the trick?
jennyjenkinz Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 great. i'll be doing this tmw! thanks for sharing x
Steve Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 Hi Jackie - Lovely idea and great photos thanks! Just to let you know I've moved your topic into the Topics forum area under 'Bonfire Night'.
luluj Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 That's a fantastic activity. Adding it to tomorrow's plan. Many thanks. luluj
Bigsue Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 We did this activity last year on bonfire night and our children spent all day at the messy table. You need to put milk in a large container. Drop two or three drops of food colouring in the middle and give the children a cotton bud soaked in cooking oil. When they place the bud in the milk mixture the food colouring shoots off in all direction. You can repeat putting the bud in the milk and the fireworks continue to change. See the photos Just WOW off to try it out in my kitchen now Thanks
Guest Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 That's great! I have so much unwanted milk (milk company keep sending us too much milk!) so this is a great way to use it up! Hope semi-skimmed works though. ppp
Jackie H Posted November 4, 2009 Author Posted November 4, 2009 Hi bigsue did it work with semi skimmed milk. I think I may have used full fat last year and cant remember.
Guest tinkerbell Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 what brilliant photographs and a lovely activity Thanks for that,I will be trying it too! Tinkerbellx
Cait Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 I just tried it and I couldn't get anything like the pictures. Semi-skimmed milk, flora cooking oil and food colouring. Moved only very slowly and didn't travel far. How 'deep' should the milk be? Full fat or semi-skimmed shouldn't make much difference if it's homogenised
Smiles Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 What a great idea, but sadly we haver a child with milk allergy . I wonder if it will work with ALPRO? smiles
Cait Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 Can't they even touch it? well they wouldn't even be touching it if they are using a cotton bud
HappyMaz Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 I just tried it and I couldn't get anything like the pictures. Semi-skimmed milk, flora cooking oil and food colouring. Moved only very slowly and didn't travel far. How 'deep' should the milk be? Me too Cait. I used both types of milk and had a very poor result. I think I need step by step instructions! Maz
Guest Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 Just tried it too and it didn't work but I used natural food colouring. I'd be interedted in more detailed instructions too.
Jackie H Posted November 5, 2009 Author Posted November 5, 2009 The milk was about 1 inch deep. Hope it works for me this year ,I cant see why it didnt for those who tried it . Good luck! x
Guest Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 Tried it today but it didn't work for us either
Guest Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 We also tried it today, the colour moved very slowly but looked pretty. I have to say that dropping the colour in from up high looked amazing and the children played with the pippettes until the milk went sort of murky coloured, they were stirring and squirting for ages!!
HappyMaz Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 I have to say that dropping the colour in from up high looked amazing and the children played with the pippettes until the milk went sort of murky coloured, they were stirring and squirting for ages!! Well we might just do it tomorrow as an experiment - we usually have left over milk on a Friday anyway! Maz
Cait Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 Are you sure it was oil and not liquid soap? ooh - that would make a difference to the surface tension
Jackie H Posted November 5, 2009 Author Posted November 5, 2009 Today 5th Nov. We used oil and whole milk.
jennyjenkinz Posted November 5, 2009 Posted November 5, 2009 I tried it today...i found that the natural food colouring didn't 'sit' in the milk but spread straight away. When we used the 'normal' food colouring we found it produced a similar effect to marbling. the cotton buds were good for mixing the milk and colouring but there was no 'shooting off' seen...I shall continue trying this tho to see if I get different results or perfect my technique. I heard one of the kids saying 'wow, this is fantastic!' so thanks again x
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