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FAMILY
Science can be cute this time of year. WORDS + PH OTOGRA PH Y : CORI JENSEN
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fter a long winter, spring never felt so good. For the mamas who are itching to catch some spring vibes in the house, here are some crowd pleasers.
COLOR CHANGING FLOWERS My young ones are fascinated by science. When I showed them how easy it was to change a flower's color, they thought they were scientists. The carnation was the ideal subject in a simple experiment that can give a pop of fun to our decor. Here is how you can get those little minds to wonder with color-changing flowers. Use any clear receptacle to hold your floral stems as they soak in water and food coloring. I liked how propagating vases worked for this craft. We used 6-8 drops of food coloring per vase. It took a few days to see the carnations slowly change colors. The key to getting the stem to pull the dye in and permeate the pedals was a fresh diagonal cut on the bottom of the stem. Our trial and error showed that if you split the stem with a knife you can get two different colors on
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either side of one flower. However, the trickiest part of this method is keeping the stems upright. We ultimately decided to put each stem in just one color. After one day we noticed that the edge of the petals started to change and form a pretty ring of color. Some grabbed the color well, while others only took on a few spots of color. What makes this experiment fun is that it’s the process not the perfection!