Science meets are in this simple to setup mixing oil and water experiment. Add this simple science experiment to your preschool or kindergarten classroom! If you have kids that LOVE creating with STEAM activities, this is the kids activity for you.
The whole idea for this experiment started when we were baking. I added oil into a bowl that already had some ingredients including milk. The oil floated on top and my daughter was amazed. We quickly mixed the excitement away into our recipe, but I knew we had to come back to that amazement.
Getting The Mixing Oil & Water Experiment Ready
- Ice Cube Tray
- Food Coloring Gel (or Water Color Liquid)
- Oil (We Used Vegetable)
- White Paper
- Cookie Sheet
Doing The Mixing Oil & Water Experiment
Fill the ice cube trays with different colored water and freeze. This will have to be done the night before the experiment.
Place a piece of paper on the cookie sheet or paint tray. Add 1-2 tablespoons to the paper.
Once the oil was on the paper, add colored ice cubes. Move the ice cubes around and observe as they melt.
The color attached to the oil and create bubbles or streaks of color on the paper. It almost looked marbleized.
One thing that I wish we would have done differently was use heavier paper, like card stock.
Our thin white paper soaked up the oil and water to quickly and basically ruined the paper after 5 or so minutes of experimenting. I think that if we had used card stock we could have saved our experiments and turned them into art work.
The Science Behind Mixing Oil & Water
Explain that oil is less dense than water and will rise to the top of the water. This is a really easy observation to see while you create beautiful art.
Also, as part of our experiment, we used this recording sheet.
Before the mixing, as students for a hypothesis of what they think will happen in the experiment.
While doing this experiment, my daughter guessed that it would mix together and make a mess.
Along with recording what she thought would happen, we illustrated and wrote down what actually happened.
This was beyond an exciting and actually very beautiful experiment. We both enjoyed playing with oil and water in this way. I can’t wait to try it again with card stock and maybe make some beautiful art.
More Science Activities and Ideas
Walking Water Science for Kids
Want science planned for you ALL YEAR LONG?!
Do you want science planned for the ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR!? This Endless Science Mega Bundle will save you so much time and keep your students engaged and excited about learning. This amazing resource contains 53 science topics including life science, physical science, earth science, and animal studies.
[…] the past we used ice cubes in our experiments, but this time I thought it would be fun to freeze some larger blocks of ice. I filled up a plastic […]