Painting with Naturally Dyed Ice | Discovering Liquids and Solids
Students painting with natural dye ice cubes
This is a suer fun, hands on project to explain liquids and solids to your children. Children will learn what happens to a solid when exposed to heat and the difference between a liquid and a solid.
What you’ll need:
A freezer, or sheltered outdoor winter area
Popsicle sticks
Ice cube trays
Paper (thick cardstock or watercolor paper)
For Dye I used:
Green- Spinach, Mint, and Carrot Greens
Blue- Blueberries
Yellow - Turmeric
Reddish Brown - Paprika (for a more vibrant red, beats can also be used)
Instructions:
How to make your dyes:
Note- the dyes will stain your hands, if you do not wish to get the dye on your clothing or hands, I suggest wearing gloves and an apron, or, clothing that you don’t mind getting dye on.
To make your dyes, bring water to a boil in a pot on your stove top. Use a different container for each individual color. For vegetables, you’ll want about two cups of ingredients for every two cups of water. For spices you’ll want 2 tablespoons for every two cups of water.
Once boiling add ingredients for each color to assigned pot.
Boil for 1 minute, and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes
Strain ingredients from liquid - be sure to catch all the liquid in a pourable container.
Once you have your individual colored liquids, let them cool to room temperature
Once cooled, pour into your ice cube containers
Once slightly frozen I put my popsicle sticks in to be used as the handles for painting. Letting the ice slightly freeze makes it easier for the sticks to stand upright.
Let freeze (I let mine freeze over night)
Once frozen, grab your watercolor paper and start painting!
(Making dyes for painting is different then making dyes for clothing, which generally involves vinegar and/or salt to make dyes more permanent. For this project we skipped those ingredients)
Discussion Topics and Questions:
Can you find items around your home that are solids? What about liquids?
What makes liquids turn to solids?
Why do solids turn into liquids?
Is ice a solid or a liquid?
What did the ice turn into when it melted?