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It’s Whitaker Wednesday! Today Jessica Rice joined us to show a fun and easy STEAM activity that is also beautiful! Plus enjoy the many science based activities at the Whitaker Center during their extended summer hours!
Description: Brighten up your home and get those creative juices flowing with this fun
and easy STEAM activity! Art and science work together to make this eye-catching
decoration for a bedroom, living room, or kitchen.
Suggested Ages: Fun for all ages!
Materials:
- White Glue
- Food Coloring or Liquid Watercolors
- Toothpicks
- Plastic Lid
- Hole Punch
- String
Directions:
Pour enough glue into the plastic lid to cover the entire inside surface.
Add just one or two drops of each color of food coloring to the glue.
Using toothpicks, swirl the colors around within the glue. Be careful not to swirl
so much that it starts turning brown!
Time to let your work dry! Observe the beautiful colors as they bloom across the
drying glue. The glue can take from one to three days to fully dry – watch for
edges of the suncatcher to start peeling away from the lid to know when it’s
finished!
Now, peel the dried suncatcher off of the lid, punch a hole in the top, tie a string
to it and hang it somewhere it will catch some summer sun!
What is happening?
The main ingredients in glue are water and a chemical called
polyvinyl acetate. Polyvinyl acetate molecules are longer and more flexible than water
molecules and, when drops of food coloring are added to glue, these molecules slow
down the colors from mixing with the water. That’s why we need to use the toothpicks to
spread the color throughout the glue. Over time, the colors will mix in with the glue