Everything we see has color, including these color science experiments. Learn how colors are made, and experiments you can do with food coloring. Also, find step-by-step instructions for simple color science experiments like color mixing, color wheels, optics, and rainbows. Explore a variety of STEAM activities that play with color and rainbows! Let’s dig in with simple science projects for kids!

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Color Science For Kids

Kids love learning about color! Toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten, elementary grades… everyone learns about colors. Primary colors, secondary colors, color mixing, and more!

Do you recall our friend ROY G BIV? They’re hard to forget! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet… rainbow colors. 

How Do We See a Rainbow in the Sky?

Have you ever seen a beautiful rainbow appear on a sunny and rainy day? Have you ever seen a double rainbow? I know I have! How do we see a rainbow in the sky in such vivid colors, like it just jumped off the pages of a favorite picture book? It’s science or a combination of reflecting and refraction.

You need the sun and the water molecules in the air… sunlight enters the raindrop and bends or refracts as it leaves the water droplet causing the separation of the wavelengths of colors. This is the rainbow that we see, and we see it in the same order of colors every time!

How Many Colors in a Rainbow?

7 colors! There are seven colors in a rainbow. Even though you may not be able to pick out each one, ROY G BIV is on the scene! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. We tend to use only six colors when we draw and color a rainbow.

Using the Scientific Method

Some color science experiments are a fantastic opportunity to use the scientific method and start a journal using the free mini pack below. You can read about incorporating the scientific method here, including more information on the independent and dependent variables.

The first step in the scientific method is asking a question and developing a hypothesis. What do you think will happen if________________? Then you answer with; I think _____________ will happen if___________. This is the first step to diving deeper into science with kiddos and making connections!

Color Science Projects

You can also easily turn a few of these color experiments into a fantastic presentation along with your hypothesis. Check out the resources below to get started.

List of Color Science Experiments for Kids

Find a fun and easy science activity for the classroom or at home this month! Each link below will take you to each project’s setup, instructions, and ingredients or supplies. What a fun way to explore colors with kids of all ages. 

Some of these demonstrations are simply colorful, while others result in a color change on a molecular level. Still, others use the addition of food coloring to showcase a reaction or change. There are so many ways to play with color and science!

Making Rainbows

Check out 5 simple ways to explore light with everyday materials, like a prism and make rainbows!

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Make Rainbows with Light

The Stroop Effect

The Stroop effect is a cool science experiment that helps us understand how our brain works. The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop, an American psychologist who first described it in the 1930s.

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Stroop Effect

Newton’s Color Wheel Spinner

Newton invented the first color wheel in the 17th Century after discovering the visible spectrum of light. The wavelengths of light can be seen with the naked eye.

Through his experiments passing light through a prism, Newton demonstrated that there were 7 colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet) that make up the visible spectrum or clear white light. We know these as the colors of the rainbow.

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Newton’s Color Spinner

Marker Chromatography

Are markers really black? Chromatography separates the parts of a mixture into its colors so you can see each one by itself. This color experiment is simple to do with items you have lying around!

Leaf Chromatography

Find the hidden colors in leaves by separating plant pigments. You can also use this experiment to help answer the question, why do leaves change color in the fall?

DIY Spectroscope

A spectroscope is an instrument that measures the spectrum of light of objects. Create your own DIY spectroscope from simple supplies and make a rainbow from visible light.

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DIY Spectroscope

Color Taste Experiment

Try this simple experiment with a few kiddos, or try it for a quick science fair project. This color taste experiment asks the question… Does Color Affect Taste? Grab the mini taste test pack here.

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Color Taste Test Science Fair Project

Red Cabbage Experiment

In this experiment, kids learn how cabbage can be used to make a pH indicator to test liquids of varying acid levels. Depending on the pH of the liquid, the cabbage turns shades of pink, purple, or green! It’s incredibly cool to watch, and the kids love it! You can also read up on the colorful PH Scale here.

Cabbage juice science experiment and making pH indicator from red cabbagePin
Red Cabbage Indicator PH Science Project

Color Changing Slime

The pow of UV rays and a special powder create this unique color-changing slime activated by invisible UV rays we are exposed to daily.

Color Mixing Art

Color mixing is a fantastic activity to get kids ready to explore primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors are orange, green, and purple. Tertiary colors are colors made by mixing a primary color with a secondary color, for example, blue and green.

Color Changing Celery

Younger kids will love this color changing celery experiment and will be amazed at how the color magically travels upward to color the leaves of the celery stalk! They will learn that a process called capillary action helps this along. See more about the process below with color changing flowers, walking water, and tie-dyed paper towels!

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Celery Capillary Action

Color Changing Flowers

The color in these color-changing flowers seems to defy gravity, but it’s more about capillary action.

Plants will take in water from the roots in the ground, and it has to be transported up throughout the plant somehow! The stems have thin tubes that move the water upward via a process called capillary action which is demonstrated by the color change throughout the flower’s petals!

Walking Water Experiment

Walking water is another example of capillary action, except with food coloring and paper towels instead of flowers. You can check out color mixing as well.

Paper Towel Tie Dye

Here’s another fun example of capillary action in action! Paper towels are made from trees, and the fibers help to spread the color through the porous material in a similar way that the plants move the water upward. However, we see it as outward movement or the spreading of color!

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Tie Dyed Paper

Density of Liquids

You can layer sugar water to demonstrate the properties of liquid density. Use the colors of the rainbow to view the different layers of liquids in a jar or glass. You can also create a density tower using a variety of liquids.

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Sugar Water Density Experiment

Magic Milk Experiment

Food coloring is essential to highlight the chemical reaction between dish soap and the fat in molecules in milk! It’s like fireworks, but it’s also fascinating science.

Skittles Experiment

Use skittles candy and water for this colorful skittles science experiment that everyone has to try! It’s a great way to teach kids about stratification.

Colorful Water Drop Painting

The science of surface tension meets a rainbow of colors for a fantastic STEAM project that’s quick and easy for multiple age groups.

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Water Drop Painting

Color Mixing for Kids

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Color Mixing Activity

Coffee Filter Flowers

All you need is markers, water, and coffee filters! A pipette or small spray bottle helps as well. This simple science activity also doubles as an art project for STEAM! Plus, you get to explore liquid solubility. 

Baking Soda Vinegar Reactions

Color highlights this fizzy colors science experiment. This is a fun, bubbling chemical reaction caused by mixing baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring. It’s a must-try for young kiddos and can be used for various holiday themes.

Go on a Color Scavenger Hunt

Perfect for younger kiddos exploring colors in their environment! Send them on a color treasure hunt indoors or outdoors. Download the color scavenger hunt game here.

More Science Resources

Here are a few resources to help you introduce science more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident when presenting materials. You’ll find helpful free printables throughout.

Colorful Rainbow STEM Activity Ideas

Plus, we have a variety of rainbow STEM, STEAM, Art, and science activities you have to try, especially if you have kiddos fascinated by rainbows. These also work well for a spring-themed unit!

Rainbow slime and rainbow stem science projectsPin