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Rainbow Science Experiment: Density for Kids

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Kids will have a blast with this rainbow-colored density jar! Use this density for kids science demonstration with your class to show how liquids can have different densities and to explain the basics of density to your students.

Your students will love this fun science experiment! You'll need a couple simple materials for this density for kids science experiment.

Getting the Rainbow Science Experiment: Density for Kids Ready

Gather these supplies before getting started. This is a demonstration, so you only need to make one tower with your class.

Your students will love this fun science experiment! You'll need a couple simple materials for this density for kids science experiment.

Materials needed:

  • Food coloring (red, green, blue, and purple)
  • Hair gel
  • Honey
  • Olive oil
  • Vinegar
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Tall container or jar

Setting Up the Rainbow Density for Kids Science Experiment

You’ll want to dye the ingredients ahead of time or the classroom will be a mess.

Add ½ a cup of each ingredient to individual small containers:

  • Dye the gel purple
  • Dye the honey blue
  • Dye the vinegar green
  • Dye the alcohol red
  • Leave the olive oil yellow.

Doing the Rainbow Density for Kids Science Experiment

Discuss the concept of liquid density. How is density useful?

Carefully supervise the kids as they stack the ingredients. Add hair gel, honey, vinegar, then oil.

Very carefully, add the rubbing alcohol a few drips at a time to the mixture. If you add it too quickly, the red layer will fall to the water level and won’t make the distinct red/orange line above the oil.

Your students will love this fun science experiment! You'll need a couple simple materials for this density for kids science experiment.

 

Science Questions to Ask

  • What is density?
  • How can you tell how dense something is?
  • What are the densest things?
  • What are the least dense things?

The Science Behind the Rainbow Density for Kids Science Experiment

Each liquid has a specific density. Although density is different from weight,  it sometimes helps kids to think of density and weight as similar. Liquids that have a higher density will fall below liquids with a lower density.

In this experiment, the hair gel is the most dense, honey is next, vinegar is in the middle, olive oil is less dense still, and rubbing alcohol is the least dense liquid. You can see this in action when you dye the liquids different colors and stack them.

More Science Activities and Ideas

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3 Comments Filed Under: Experiments Tagged With: First Grade, Kindergarten, Science

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Comments

  1. Shannon says

    February 28, 2021 at 1:37 pm

    I haven’t tried this yet, but is there a specific food coloring you need to use? Is it hard to dye any of the materials?

    Reply
  2. Kay says

    March 1, 2021 at 7:14 pm

    You say “honey” but you show Karo Syrup?

    Reply
  3. Johnie Cromeens says

    April 24, 2022 at 2:36 pm

    I am constantly browsing online for ideas that can benefit me. Thx!

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Jennifer!

I'm Jennifer.... I taught Kindergarten and 1st grade, I have a stash of chocolate in my desk to keep me going, and I spend way too much time stalking the Target dollar bin. At a Dab of Glue Will Do, we help busy teachers and their little learners by creating awesome classroom resources which … read more

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