Explore density for kids with this beautiful rainbow density experiment which is the perfect spring science project. Use this density science experiment with kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and 4th graders. Plus, because this is such an easy rainbow science idea – it is simple to add to even busy days in March, April, and May!
Rainbow density experiment
This density science experiment is a fun rainbow activity for kids as kids will learn about not only density for kids, but create a beautiful density science experiment. This spring science experiment is perfect for kindergarteners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, and grade 4 students. I love that this rainbow science experiment is super simple and easy to try!
When we study materials in science, we talk about it’s characteristics. These characteristics help us to describe a substance and compare and contrast it to other substances. Two of the first characteristics we learn about is how much something weighs (mass) or the size of something or how much space it takes up (volume). There is another important characteristic that is related to both mass and volume – density.
Density experiments for kids
What Is Density? Density is the relation of the mass of a substance to it’s volume. Have you ever picked up a rock and a piece of cork of the same size. The might have the same volume, or take up the same amount of space, but the rock definitely weighs more (has greater mass). This means the rock has a higher density. It’s molecules are packed together in an arrangement that fits more mass into the same amount of space as the piece of cork.
Just as solid materials have different densities, so do liquids. The density of liquids depends on the mass of the molecules that make up a liquid and how closely those molecules pack together. You can easily see the difference in the density of 2 liquids, oil and water, by adding equal parts of oil and water into a glass. Watch the liquids separate. The oil is more dense than the water and will sink to the bottom of the glass leaving an obvious separation of the two liquids.
We can change the density of a liquid by dissolving another substance in it. This adds mass to the liquid with only a minor affect on the volume. We can demonstrate this with a simple, fun density activity.
Rainbow experiment
You will need:
- 4 glass containers (I used small prep bowls from my kitchen)
- food coloring: red, yellow, blue, green
- water
- sugar
- eye dropper or transfer pipette
Rainbow science experiment
Line up the glass containers and label them 1 through 4. Add sugar to the containers as follows:
- #1 – no sugar
- #2 – 1 Tablespoon of sugar
- #3 – 2 Tablespoons of sugar
- #4 – 3 Tablespoons of sugar
After you have added the sugar, add water to container #4 one tablespoon at a time and stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Make a note of the amount of water used and then add the same amount of water to the remaining 3 containers so that all volumes are relatively the same.
Next, add 3 drops of food coloring to the containers, so that you have one container of all four colors.
Density experiment
Now, for the fun part! Grab the pipette and squeeze the bulb. Place the tip into the liquid of container #1, which has the lowest density. Let go a little on the bulb of the pipette so that just a small amount of liquid enters the pipette. Be careful to hold this pressure on the bulb and remove it from container 1. You don’t want to squeeze any liquid out or suck any air into the pipette.
Liquid Density Experiment
Put the tip of the pipette into container #2 and release a little more pressure on the bulb allowing just a bit of the next liquid to enter the pipette. You should see a layer of each color in the pipette. Do this slowly as possible so the colors do not mix. Repeat with containers 3 and 4 in that order.
You should end up with a rainbow in your pipette! Because of the added sugar, the liquids are now at different densities with container #1 having the lowest density (pure water) and container #4 having the highest density (the largest amount of dissolved sugar). By coloring the liquids, you can actually see the differences in density as the colors remain separate with just a little blending. (This just adds to the cool rainbow effect!)
Don’t worry if you mix the liquids up too much in the pipette. It takes a steady hand, but you can get it with a little practice.
Rainbow Science
Looking for fun rainbow experiment ideas to get kids excited about exploring the world around them? Don’t miss these clever rainbow activity ideas!
- How to Grow Rainbow Crystals EASILY at Home – Spring Science Activity
- Rainbow in a Jar Density Experiments
- Simply Rainbow Density Experiment for springtime
- Delicious Rainbow Stem scienc with jelly beans
- Frozen Erruptions – Rainbow Science Activities for Preschoolers
- Colorful Capillary Action Experiment
- Easy Rainbow in a jar experiment with sugar
- Amazing growing a rainbow capillary action experiment
- Colorful candy science experiment
- Magical Color Changing Milk Experiment
- Colorful Polymer Experiments
- Beautiful Food Coloring Flower Experiment Worksheet
- Heat-Sensitive Color Chaning Slime
Rainbow Printables
Snag these rainbow worksheets and printable rainbow activities to make learning fun this spring:
- Free printable Rainbow Color Matching Game
- Rainbow Rhyming Activity for Kindergarten
- Rainbow Worksheets for kids
- Free Connect the Dot Rainbow Printable for Preschoolers
- Hands-on Rainbow Math Activities for Preschoolers
- Rainbow Playdough Shape Mat
- Lots of fun ideas in this Rainbow Preschool Theme
Rainbow Crafts and Activities
Looking for some really cute, simple, and beautiful rainbow craft ideas? Check out these fun rainbow crafts for preschoolers!
- Yarn Wrapped Rainbow Craft for Kids
- Paper Plate Rainbow Craft for Preschoolers
- Rainbow Handprint Craft
- Easy Tissue Paper Rainbow Craft for Spring
- Craft Stick Rainbow Craft
- Beautiful Rainbow Slime Activity for Kids
- Rainbow Toast makes a yummy snack!
- Rainbow Painting with Cars Activity
- Super cute Rainbow Math with a DIY abacus activity
- Foam Puzzle Rainbow Activity for Preschoolers
- Bubble Snake Rainbow Activities
Spring Alphabet Printables
- Seed Find the Letter Worksheets perfect for spring letter learning
- Spring Letter Reveral Worksheets
- Ladybug free alphabet printables activity
- Alphabet Popsicles – hands-on phonics game for pre-k and kindergarten
- Spring Showers Letter Matching Game for kids
- Free Printable Bunny Alphabet Matching Game
- Spring Initial i Blends Game
- Bug Free Printable Sight Word Games
- Farm Sight Word Games for Kindergarten
- Word Family Flower Template to cut & paste
- Butterfly Printable Rhyming Games
- Flower Sight Word Maze Worksheets
Spring Math
- April Showers Multiplication Craft
- Butterfly Spring Addition Mats Activity for Kindergarten
- Spring Number Puzzle to trace, count, and match
- Butterfly Addition math puzzles for spring and summer
- Spring Counting Games for Kindergarten 1-20
- Printable Spring Math Number Sense to 20 Activity
- Free Number Sense Worksheets for spring
- Learning Colors Spring Sorting Activity
- Spring place value cards printable free
- Butterfly Math missing addend game
- Flower Number Name Puzzle Worksheet
- Spring Math Games – Double Digit Addition Math Game for Spring
- Free printable Spring Math Activities for Preschoolers
Spring Math for Preschoolers
- Hands-on counting with Rainbow activities for preschoolers
- Playdough Ladybug Counting Activity
- Bird Filefolder Addition Game
- Spring Suduko Easy – free printable problem solving skills activity for kids
- April showers Spring Math activity working on number sense
- Addition clouds – spring math activities for preschoolers
- Spring math worksheets for pre-k and kindergarten
- Umbrella Craft Preschool for workign on counting to 10 with free template
Kindergarten Spring Math
- Catch 20 Bug Counting Activity for preschoolers and kindergartners
- Number Sense Butterfly Activities for Preschoolers
- Garden Telling Time Worksheets pdf free
- Frog multiplication game printable
- Math frog grade 4 worksheets
- Addition frog math game for kids
- Carrot Shape Playdough Mats
- Hungry Caterpillar Number Tracing Worksheets
- Days of the week printables featuring the Hungry Caterpillar
- Spring math activities for preschool using clip cards
Free Spring Printables
- Spring Bingo Dauber Sheets featuring clothes
- Counting to 20 Spring Playdough Mats
- Garden Printables with fun in the garden worksheet answers
- Kindergarten Spring Worksheets
- Free printable Flower scavenger hunt
- Spring printable bookmarks for kids
- Free printable spring directed drawing
- Spring worksheets for kindergarten
- Roll and Dab spring activity sheets for toddlers
- Learning colors for toddlers games sorting kite tassles (free printable)
- Spring Coloring Sheets
- Bug Coloring Sheets
Spring Science Ideas
Spring is the perfect time to study plants for kids! Here are some fun plant experiments to learn more about photosynthesis, pollination, capillary action, and more!
- Potato Maze – Summer STEM Activity for Kids
- Water pollution experiment for preschool Science Expeirment
- Simple Geranium Photosynthesis Experiment for Kids
- How to regrow celery in water with celery experiment worksheet
- Flower dye experiment Science Experiment for kids
- Color Changing Food Coloring Flower Experiment worksheet learning about capillar action
- Free Printable Seasons Worksheets w/ Free 4 Season Printables
- EPIC Lego Water Cycle Model for Kids
- Large Printable Weather Unit for kids
- Rain Cloud for Kids experiment and free worksheet
- Water Cycle for Kids Printable Book
- Easy Floating Egg Experiment
- Bouncy Egg in vinegar experiment worksheet
- Amazing Egg in a Bottle Science Experiment
- Fun Egg Drop Project
- How to Grow Rainbow Crystals EASILY at Home – Spring Science Activity
- Rainbow in a Jar Density Experiments
- Simply Rainbow Density Experiment for springtime
- Delicious Rainbow Stem scienc with jelly beans
- Frozen Erruptions – Rainbow Science Activities for Preschoolers
Spring Crafts for Kids
Whether you want to make colorful spring rainbow crafts, umbrella rain crafts, butterfly crafts, or baby animal craft projects, we’ve got some cute ideas!
- Simple Windsock Craft for kids
- Rainbow Painting with Kids using hot wheel cars
- Painting Spring Flowers with Celery flower activities for toddlers
- Simply stunning spring art for toddlers with a washable inkpad
- Rainbow Ice Cream Stick Craft
- Tissue Paper Butterly Craft for Kids
- Cute, printable Name flower craft
- Pretty Egg Carton Flowers
- Super cute and easy-to-make pasta necklace craft
Spring Craftivities
These fun ideas are a combination of spring crafts and spring activities:
- Silly Egg Head Spring Activities for Kids
- Grass Craft for Kids
- Milk Toast Rainbows -YUM!
- 100 Spring Crafts for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and elementary age students
- Rainy Day Bleeding Tissue Paper Art project for kids
- Fun-to-Make Bubble Art for Kids
- Simple Bubble Painting by blowing bubbles
Flower Crafts
- Lacing Flower CraftÂ
- Pasta in clay Flower Crafts
- Super cute Printable Name Flower Craft
- Pretty Cherry Blossom Craft for SpringFun-to-Make and lovely painted flower craft preschool
- This spin art Flower Craft for kids is almost as beautiful as they are fun to make
- Simple Sunflower Crafts that are bright, cheery, and simple to make
- This flower activity for preschoolers changes things up to use flowers to create art
- Show off these pretty flower suncatcher craft
- Pretty red poppy craft
- Purple Hollyhock Tissue Paper Flowers Craft
- Printable Flower Activity for Kids Scavenger Hunt
- 100 Flower Crafts from A to Z
- Handprint Spring flower art projects
- Dandelion flower craft project
- Zinnia Fingerprint Flower Craft
- Hyacinth Flower Craft
- Beautiful Chromatography Flowers made with science!
- Grow Your own Crystal Flower Science
- White Dandelion Craft for Preschoolers
- 10+ Pasta Flower Crafts for Kids
- Beautiful Painted Flower Craft Preschool
- Delphinium Egg Carton Flowers Craft for Kids
Fun Spring Activities for Kids
- Create this gorgeous stained glass art for kids
- Blow GIANT bubbles with this Homemade Bubble Solution
- Outrageously FUN Bubble Painting
- Must try Lego Zipline
- Homemade Chalk Recipe
- Easy-to-Make Balloon Cd Hoovercraft
- Spring Scavenger Hunt BINGO
- Free Printable Spring Scavenger Hunt
- Plus don’t miss these dr seuss activities too
- 100 things to do on a rainy day
- Fun-to-make drawbot for kids
Leave a Reply