I only want colored flowers

After coming back from school & having snack, my son usually sits with me on the balcony . Then I get quizzed on the make and color of the cars that pass by. I also have a small garden which I tend to while answering to the pop quiz! Yesterday he decided to help. He dug the earth, played with the soil, sprayed water on me & the plants.

We have some Coleus plants, Pink Hibiscus & white gardenias. He said mama I like the Hibiscus more than white flower. The rich pink color of the Hibiscus attracts him more than the white gardenias, I get it. So I asked him would you like to make some colorful flowers? He said yes & ran inside. Lately he has become very independent and wants to prove that he doesn’t need my help. That usually means trouble though! He got his box of crayons & wanted to “crayon” the gardenias red. I immediately got up and saved the poor gardenia from it’s plight. Then we plucked some white roses from the backyard; I realized this probably was not too great of an idea, since it would not be immediate. But it worked out well.

Materials needed:

1. 4 Mugs

2. 4 White roses

3. 4 different food colors

4. 1 Spoon/Stirrer

Steps:

1. Pour some water into each of the cups & mix a few drops of food color in it

2. Dip the Roses with stems into the cups.

3. We left them by the window overnight. Every ten minutes throughout the evening he checked them though, despite of me saying it’s not gonna happen so fast. You never know mama, my son said!

4. Getting up, brushing, showering & everything was super fast today, since we have to go check on the flowers!

This is how the flowers looked today, I was hoping he would be a little disappointed, but he looked at them intently & noticed the tints in the flower. For us the green one didn’t work that well, but the blue, orange & red ones did.

When I dropped him at school, he told his friend, my mom gave me a blue rose today, the guy looked at him a little funny & just went back to playing with his truck. I gave my son a hug & said the blue rose is our secret! And he smiled & went in….

The Science behind the magic: The colored water is transported up into the petals through capillary action. Water is evaporating from the plants when it is exposed to air and thus the flowers keep drawing the colored water from the cup & changes it color accordingly.

What secret are you keeping today ?

Caution: Adult supervision is required for all the activities.

#Capillaryaction #Colors #gardening #roses