Surprise!! It's still winter in New York. I'm constantly racking my brain trying to think of activities that don't involve going outside in negative windchill weather. The other day, the activity that my daughter came up with was, "Go to Trader Joe's for cheese crackers." That one did involve leaving the house, but I went with it because I had no better ideas.
But today! Today, I came up with something truly brilliant. Chromatography!!! Growing up, I had a neighbor who was pretty much the coolest guy you could live next door to. He was a scientist who never had kids of his own and was basically like our own personal Bill Nye the Science Guy. He would bring things over to our house that we never could have had access to on our own, like dry ice or chemical indicators for science experiments. He was the reason I am fascinated by science and have a healthy appreciation for curiosity. I want to continue to foster that in my daughter. This was one experiment that 'Bill Nye' showed us growing up that I thought would be good for another cold day.
Chromatography is the separation of a color or chemical into it's component parts. In our case, it was separating the ink of our markers into the various colors that make it up. You will definitely have all of the materials on hand, it's fascinating for kids of all ages, and it can also be a lesson on color mixing and primary vs. secondary colors!
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| The pretty colors!! |
What You'll Need:
- Markers (not permanent) of various colors
- Small glasses with tap water
- Toothpicks
- Tape
- Paper towel strips
A few notes: you want the water to just touch the bottom of the paper towel, so there are no measurements for this. (My black strip got a bit too watery). Brown and black markers make the most dramatic separation on account of needing more colors to make them.
What to Do:
- Take your paper towel strip and hold it up to your small glasses. Estimate where to place the color and draw a solid line a little way up the towel. You want the bottom of the towel to touch the water line, but not touch the marker.
Measuring where to place the line. 
Brown on the left, black on the right.
- Tape the towel onto the toothpick at the very top.
- Gently lower the paper towel into the glass of water, balancing the toothpick so it doesn't fall all the way in.
- Then you sit, and observe. You will notice the water crawl up the paper towel and you will begin to see it separate into it's component parts. Ask the pupil to observe which new colors they see!
- Watch until the water reaches all the way to the top of the paper.
Brown has orange-ish brown, black and blue tones
Notice how the primary color (red) does not separate. 
Black separates into orange black, brown and blue. - Play around with lots of colors, or many on the same paper to really have some mixing.
Ooooh pretty!! 
Our finished pieces.
Have fun with this one. It's so scienc-y! (That's definitely a word) and is fun for kiddos of any age.
