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Food Coloring Flowers

by Marie on May 22, 2008

Whenever we had white flowers in the house growing up, I’d give them the food coloring treatment. It’s always fascinating to see how this process works with the flowers. I’ve found the Carnation flower works best for this cool science project.

I bought a $4 bunch of white carnations at the local Walmart. Then we got out our flower vases ready with water. Don’t use the flower food it may come with, I did once and it didn’t work as well. Then pour in about 10 or so drops of your desired food color. We chose blue for the big bunch and tried a little red one too. I only used about 5-6 drops of red color for the small vase. Cut your flower stems off a few inches and place in the water.

It only took a few hours before we were seeing a hint of blue. By the next morning, the colors were all throughout the flower. They made a pretty border in blue and red.

My kids loved it and were amazed when the white flowers started to gain a touch of color. We have also done this project with food, celery works great. It’s fun to watch science in action.

{ 83 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Aimee May 22, 2008 at 5:05 am

I’ve been meaning to try this.

2 Amy May 22, 2008 at 9:45 am

What a fun project- I bet the kids would love that!

3 Angie May 22, 2008 at 10:13 am

I wake up in the morning thinking what fun thing can I do with my kids today? Then I click on your site and TA-DA! There is my answer. Thanks so much! Keep the great ideas coming!

4 Wendy May 22, 2008 at 11:24 am

This is great! I’ll definitely be doing this with my son.

I think I tried something similar with a carrot when I was a little kid…

5 Karen C. May 22, 2008 at 2:02 pm

my mom used to do this with me and we used peonies that were growing in the back yard. watch out for the ants though.

6 liz May 22, 2008 at 2:48 pm

I just recently started reading your blog, and this is a perfect example of what I love about it. We used to do this as kids, it is fun and easy, but I had never thought to do it with my children — now I will. I dusted off my air-popper a couple of weeks ago, at your suggestion, and my kids didn’t even know what it was! Now they prefer that method to microwave popcorn. Thanks for helping me ward off mom burn-out.

7 David May 22, 2008 at 3:10 pm

You could also try cutting the stem in half or quarters (about half an inch above the base) then put each piece of the stem into different colored waters and get multi colored flowers.

8 Marne May 23, 2008 at 7:10 pm

NEAT! I am trying this one for sure.

9 Aimee May 24, 2008 at 5:33 am

We did ours yesterday; the kids think it’s pretty cool. It was good to get to talk about how things work inside the plant.

10 Liz May 25, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Be sure to help your kids understand WHY this happens: the water molecules’ attraction to each other (surface tension) is stronger than to the pull of gravity, so the dyed water basically “climbs” up the tubes in the stem of the plant – it’s called capillary action.
You can help your little ones see surface tension by using eye droppers to drop small drops of water onto pennies (lay them flat on the table.) The water forms a dome on top of the penny because the water molecules hold on to one another. Just be sure to drip the drops from close to the penny – not from way up above. Surface tension is also why those little bugs are able to walk on top of the water instead of sinking…

11 David May 28, 2008 at 11:12 am

You can also see capillary action if you place two glasses next to each other one full of water and one empty with a piece of cloth draping from one to the other after a while the empty glass will have some water in it, this is a good way to water your plants if you are going away for a few days, try it and see.

12 David May 28, 2008 at 11:32 am

Also about water tension, if you fill a glass to the brim with water then add pennies to the glass, the water will seem to form a slight bulge over the rim of the glass, when it has done this drip a small drop of detergent into the glass and the bulge will be destroyed due to the action of the detergent which breaks down the surface tension, this is how detergents can remove dirt and grease, if you remove surface tension water and grease molecules have two similar attractors which will bind together in the absence of tension and so water will bind with the grease and dissolve it.

13 marta May 28, 2008 at 2:01 pm

oh my. i love all of your make and takes. i can’t believe you are going strong throughout your pregnancy! congrats.. you are my inspiration. loving all the unique things you are teaching your kids. so so fun.

14 Heather May 29, 2008 at 9:17 pm

You can also do this with celery!! I did it with my preschool class today!

15 Cindy June 11, 2008 at 9:11 am

I did this with white peonies years ago, did them all in rainbow colors, then put them in a huge vase with ribbons tied around them Martha Stewart style, sat them on the patio table. Many neighbors commented on them. They are neat.

16 Paula June 21, 2008 at 5:15 pm

This is cool! I’ll give it a try.

17 Maykat18 June 22, 2008 at 1:56 am

You can do this with celery as well my mom used to do it for me when I was a child.

18 Yemek Tarifleri July 1, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Thanks for this. Article who your writen was so important for me. Thanks again :)

19 Tice July 9, 2008 at 1:02 am

It works with tulips also perfect. : )

20 monique July 14, 2008 at 4:23 pm

I think it will be fun to see how the flower changes colors. I’ll give it a try to see how it turns out!

21 loran July 19, 2008 at 11:27 am

how long dose it take for the color to get to the pedal?

22 Marie July 20, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Loran – It should only take a few hours before you start to see a few streaks of color. But overnight, it should be through most of the flowers veins and bright. I did this the first time and didn’t get enough color coming through, so I had to up the drops of color. Good luck and I hope they turn out bright for you!

23 Cassandra August 16, 2008 at 3:09 am

I have done this with Queen Ann’s Lace–which I think is technically a weed. I now live in western Canada and you have to pay for Queen Ann’s Lace at a florist shop because it doesn’t grow here!

24 sarah August 25, 2008 at 1:17 pm

how long does it take for them to change colors? i work in a child care lab and i need an activity but i only have one day!

25 Daniel September 28, 2008 at 12:51 pm

I’m a 7th grader and I’m doing a science project on this same topic. I took some bean plants and planted them in some soil. I watered one plant with regular water, and another with water that had purple food coloring in it. They just sprouted 3 days ago, and the plant being watered with purple water isn’t turning very purple…

Anyway, hope you don’t mind if I use this cool site on my Bibliography…?

26 bellla October 2, 2008 at 11:50 am

this is so cool im doing a project about it in school right now so this helped me understand how to do it better! THANKS

27 bella October 2, 2008 at 11:52 am

i was also wondering what other flowers you cou use?

28 kristine October 15, 2008 at 1:49 pm

i think i’m gonna use this projectfor the science fair at my school =) thanx alot =)

29 shikawanaka (seriously-thats my name) October 15, 2008 at 1:56 pm

oh wow! i think this idea is way awesome…..i’m gonna use it for school, if its ok? ok…..whatever….bye ;-)

30 edith October 22, 2008 at 6:10 am

Very interesting, thank you.

31 kristine October 26, 2008 at 3:56 pm

hello again, i used this 4 my project at school…and i used carnations, lilies, and daisies…and the daisies & lilies died, but the carnations are still alive. why did the other flowers die and the carnations live? =\

32 Lauren November 2, 2008 at 1:14 pm

i was in a play and all they had was white flowers so i used yellow die and it worked really well

33 tomas November 4, 2008 at 5:04 pm

i’m in high school and got a cool idea for a science project that would be little work but a lot of fun. i havn’t done it yet, but i’m going to turn some white flowers yellow, and some blue, and then put the yellow ones in blue water and see if they turn green and the same with the blue ones in yellow water. i think it’ll be pretty cool

34 Flower December 28, 2008 at 2:53 am

I remember doing the same thing for a project when I was still in elementary. And I was so amazed back then. They’re so pretty with that hint of pink.

35 Thalia Saenz December 31, 2008 at 10:36 pm

i did a scienc fair project and i got an a thanks to the flower in dye

36 Emma January 18, 2009 at 6:35 pm

They are so much fun, I’m using them for science-fair

37 Tracie January 28, 2009 at 7:31 am

Having done this successfully with roses and carnations… I decided to try this on baby’s breath. Needing tiny dried and pressed flowers for nail art. I was really surprised at the results. I tried red food coloring for one bunch, to get a pink tint, and blue for another and then purple.
Within three hours the baby’s breath bunch in blue food coloring was almost entirely blue. Each little flower was so beautifully colored with a nice deep blue; and not just the edges but the entire flower.

However, I was disappointed to find the red food coloring barely hinted at pink in the baby’s breath. You have to put that bunch next to all white ones to even see there’s the slightest hint of a pink tinge. And the purple never happened at all. So far all three have been sitting over-night; the blue are getting bluer but the others will not color.

Has anyone ever experimented with baby’s breath? Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong? All three bunches came from the same larger bunch. All three were cut at the ends in the same manner, and all three were put in the same tap water… I just can’t seem to figure out why the blue took so well and the other colors won’t.
I’d be really grateful for any advice or tips.
Thanks.

38 Andrew January 29, 2009 at 7:51 pm

This a cool expirment..!!
I going to do this Experment for my Science project..!!
Ya im going to get an A…!!

39 djyukg January 30, 2009 at 9:39 am

i tried this with cows and BOOM!

40 Elizabeth January 31, 2009 at 9:07 am

This is cool, I’m doing it for a Science Fair project. Do you really need that much water?

41 jojo February 6, 2009 at 10:50 am

cool

42 lilly February 10, 2009 at 8:49 am

im doing this for my science fair !! ITS CHAWSOME!! XD

lol!! I said CHAWSOME ^_^

43 lilly mielke February 10, 2009 at 8:51 am

HEY its meh again!! XD the CHAWSOME person ^_^

I hope i get a A+!! CHAWSOME!! ^.^

44 Eve February 16, 2009 at 10:13 pm

i used this for my sicence project

45 Beth February 19, 2009 at 10:21 pm

I love this so much that I have the food coloring out and ready to start. Thanks so much.

46 kamren chambers April 2, 2009 at 9:09 am

This was very fasinating

47 casandra April 8, 2009 at 2:24 pm

i love how u did it and i have a project 2 do in elemantary school and im so going 2 get an a A

48 Shosh April 17, 2009 at 5:51 pm

I did it too! It was awesome! 11yrs old Eagle Point Org. Yo whats up peeps!!

49 jecica May 2, 2009 at 8:59 am

can you do it with ather wite flowers beacaues im doing a sinence project on the same thing.But that was COOL!!!

50 Amanda May 7, 2009 at 3:25 pm

i am doing my science project about this, and when i did it, it was like the pics u put there!!! it was very cool!!! ;}

51 Amanda May 7, 2009 at 3:28 pm

it just soooooo pretty!!!! *——–* r-o-b-o-t-!!!! tee hee!!!

52 Johaanne May 7, 2009 at 5:39 pm

That was totally cool I got a+ thanks ALOTT!!!!!!!!

53 Victoria*woopwoop* May 7, 2009 at 5:44 pm

THATS SO KOOL HOPE YOU MAKE SOME MORE THANKSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!=]

54 Kaila May 8, 2009 at 8:51 am

thats so cool any one could do that so easy but anyways thats cool thanks alot for the project

55 Kaila May 8, 2009 at 8:51 am

thats so cool any one could do that so easy but anyways thats cool

56 lemonade96 May 28, 2009 at 9:23 am

OMG im doing this for a science project i better get a A++ i love this project it looks reaaly easy n fun!!! where did u get the idea its really cool i wonder what else u can do!!! THXXXXXXXXX LOTS!

57 Lan-nae-nae May 28, 2009 at 9:25 am

omg ilvethis thxx lots im doing this for my science project its reallly cool where did u come up this this n how do u do celery???????? n i wonder what else u can do!!! OMG i better get a A+++ itsw super sweeeet ekk it looks so muchys FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!hehehehehehehhehehehehhehehhehehhe

58 Gayathiri October 14, 2009 at 2:17 am

can you please get a different and hard science experiment
this experiment is good but everyone can do this
so please i really needed immediately
please sent it to my email address
thank you so much and if you help me i would really apprecite this

59 emily October 26, 2009 at 6:17 pm

i have to do this for my science fair project and my dad does it for a living

60 Jallie October 29, 2009 at 7:16 pm

I am using this for my science project, but I used food coloring.. :( It took me a week and 5 days to finish this, The red one is still alive, but no food color into it’s stems. The green one is shrived up and just died along with the blue one, but the green did not work, and the blue was only the slightist bit on the tips… Yours looks sooooo pretty, I know now that I shouldn’t use food coloring… :(
Well…. thanks! :P d: :D :) :j :] [: (: :O] :o]
Jallie

61 sonia guzman ortega November 5, 2009 at 3:05 pm

I am doing this science fair project too. And I think its pretty cool!!!

62 eddie December 17, 2009 at 9:03 pm

me too it roks!!!!!!

63 Anna January 21, 2010 at 11:51 am

every body loves it

64 Sunshine and iako January 21, 2010 at 12:45 pm

we would like to know how much a soda and chips will cost?

65 Sunshine and iako January 21, 2010 at 12:46 pm

Sorry about that we thought it wasn’t going to work

66 Sunshine and iako January 21, 2010 at 12:48 pm

we would like to know if you cut the stem in half and put into 2 different colors will it combine or just you know just saty the 2 different colors?

67 ceeday February 4, 2010 at 9:59 am

tis is the most fun cool project in the world i think everybody would like the project

68 clambra February 4, 2010 at 10:03 am

hey what up im looking 4 someone 2 cheer me up i sad!!!!!!!!!!!

69 lexi February 22, 2010 at 8:55 am

THIS IS GREAT!

70 lexi February 22, 2010 at 8:57 am

i tried it and this is great my plant is shaded!

71 shidia February 22, 2010 at 5:28 pm

that was osom thanks

72 ashley February 24, 2010 at 1:28 am

do u know if u can do it with roses????

73 rebecca March 8, 2010 at 5:56 pm

this is going to be my sinse project

74 Emoni March 10, 2010 at 8:24 pm

umm i think this is a great idea for me and my science buddy because we had nothing to do for the science fair untill my sister Lapraja sugjusted a science project to me i think we r going to have a blast at the science fair!!!

75 Emoni March 10, 2010 at 8:25 pm

Also colered flowers r amazing!!!

76 marybeth March 14, 2010 at 4:53 pm

my grandmother used to take me and my sisters for walks in the country where we would pick queen anne’s lace flowers (weeds) and do this. thaqnks for the memory.

77 Jacy March 14, 2010 at 7:36 pm

I did this for my science project, but I put only a few flowers in colored water in one day day, and kept the rest in regular water, and the next day, put in more flowers. It was something different to do.

78 olivia March 17, 2010 at 2:49 am

My brother done a project on this but he decided to use celery. Thank you for your procedure it helped my brother alot. ;)

79 leronashelby April 9, 2010 at 1:04 pm

the flowers changed in three days it was easy

80 kathy April 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm

hi my name is kathy

81 Lovely Lady April 14, 2010 at 9:54 am

Hey This Is Cool!!!

82 Madison April 16, 2010 at 12:42 pm

I did this for my sicence fair project and used gel food coloring. It did not work well. Only the green and yellow carnations showed little change in four days! I used carnations, pompons and fuji mums All the other flowers stayed white and statred wilting. Not sure what happend. I did it for a science fair project that is tonight. Not sure what kind of grade I will get but I won’t give up. I will keep doing this experiement till I figure out how to do it right. Next time I won’t use gel food coloring.

83 Chaitali May 12, 2010 at 8:40 pm

i have tryed it in the middle school in 6t grade when we had to identify how plants make food and it’s coloring it was remarkable.

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