dying flowers science experiment

The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

Dyed Flowers Science Experiment

March 12, 2013 by Anna Ranson

• a few stems of bright, white flowers such as chrysanthemums, gerberas or carnations
• jars filled with water and various shades of liquid or gel food colouring

 She then went back to her original observational drawing and added the colours where they had appeared on the flowers. We talked about comparing the pictures and how they represented the changes we had seen.

 We have stuck this drawing, along with some annotations made by me, into a new scrap book to keep track of our investigations and activities. Cakie is very excited about it and wants to show it to everyone  at the moment!

  What they are learning while they play: science/ knowledge and understanding of the world: performing a simple science experiment, making predictions and observations, understanding the parts of a plant, learning how water moves through a plant, drawing simple conclusions creativity: drawing from observation and noticing changes in appearance

Cakie: 4.6 Pop: 2.11 Bean: 12 mos

March 12, 2013 at 12:58 am

We did this with white tulips this week, it’s lots of fun. Have you tried spliting the stems and putting them in different pots? Our tulips didn’t split well so that part didn’t work out.

March 12, 2013 at 1:08 am

This looks fantastic. I tried to be clever and use some rather tired carnations for this experiment-it didn’t work as either the xylem was full of air or the flowers had just given up! This reminds me to try this again with fresh flowers!

March 12, 2013 at 2:09 am

This flower experiment is very neat with young preschool students. They love seeing the colors: http://www.brennaphillips.com/colored-flowers-update

March 12, 2013 at 7:06 am

oh this is going to be such a fun one to try

March 12, 2013 at 10:20 am

I remember doing this as a child and being amazed! Love Cakie’s Before and After drawings.

March 12, 2013 at 6:32 pm

did you use A LOT of food coloring? We tried this and it didnt work – so disappointing! The only thing I can think of is maybe we didnt add enough food coloring? After 3 days they were slightly changing – but nothing dramatic

March 12, 2013 at 9:59 pm

The nature detective site suggests adding 5 tablespoons of food colouring. We used blue “professional food colouring” about half a teaspoon and it worked great. The regular food colouring I added about a tablespoon (all we had left) and they took a few days to colour.

March 12, 2013 at 11:13 pm

Fab! I’m going to buy some chrysanthemums on the weekend and do it with The Boy next week, thans! This is why you just got my vote in the MADs.

March 13, 2013 at 11:52 am

What an interesting way to teach. I love that drawing of this little kid. Seems like he had understood his lesson very well.

May 15, 2013 at 8:03 pm

oh…….so cooool omg lol

May 15, 2013 at 8:04 pm

August 25, 2013 at 1:36 am

What flowers did you use

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Color Changing Flowers Science Experiment

I just love this color changing flowers science experiment ! It is really easy to do and the kids love watching the flowers change color. We think it is the perfect science activity for spring!

I even created printable recording sheets that kids in preschool and early elementary can use to show their observations. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the post to get them.

Related: Walking Water Science Experiment

Color Changing Flowers Experiment

We love a good science experiment and this one did not disappoint. It was really neat to watch the flowers change colors. If you are looking for a science activity to try this spring, you should definitely give this one a go!

Supplies Needed:

• Free printable recording sheets (button to download at the bottom of this post)
• White carnations
• Liquid food coloring in a variety of colors

Instructions:

• To start you will want to trim down the stems of the flower so they fit your cups or glasses.
• Add water to each cup.
• Then put about 10-15 drops of food coloring in the water and stir around a bit.
• Add at least one carnation to each glass of colored water.
• Check in on the flowers every couple of hours and observe any changes.

Observing the Flowers Change Color

We did this color changing flower experiment in the early evening and we started to see changes within a couple of hours. Some of the flowers started showing faint streaks of color along their petals.

By the next morning, most of them were even more colorful. The flower in the purple water didn’t seem to be taking in much water, so I trimmed the stem a little more and it soon started showing more color in the petals.

The following day the color was even more vibrant.

We continued to watch the flowers over the next few days. They did get a bit brighter than the pics above, but never completely saturated in the color.

Next time, we plan to try even more food coloring to see if we get even more saturated colors. We also decided that we will try roses alongside carnations and see if one takes on the color better than the other.

There are lots of ways you can change-up the experiment. You can try doing several different flowers at once. Or you can try different amounts of food coloring.

How Do Plants Drink Water?

Plants drink water from the ground up through their roots. The water travels up the stem and into the petals of the flower. Although, our flowers didn’t have roots anymore they were still able to pull water up from the cup into the stem and up through the flower to the petals.

It is through capillary action that plants are able to defy gravity and pull water up and into their leaves and flowers.

To read more about capillary action, check out this awesome walking water science experiment !

We hope you’ll give this fun color changing flowers science experiment a try soon!

Science is Fun and Engaging for Kids!

Science experiments help foster curiosity, ignite children’s imagination and help develop a love for learning! It’s a fantastic way for kids to develop problem solving skills, critical thinking and improve fine motor skills while building confidence!

Your kids will have a blast while learning science concepts in the classroom or at home.

Other Fun Science Experiments for Kids

This rainbow  Walking Water Science Experiment  is one of our most popular science activities!

Try this super simple  Oobleck recipe  that only requires two household ingredients!

This rainbow skittles experiment is sure to WOW the kids!

Explore chromatography with this fun  chromatography science experiment  for kids!

This  rain cloud jar science experiment  give children a chance to explore clouds and rain in a hands-on and engaging way

The kids will get a kick out of this super cool  dancing raisins science experiment !

Looking for more fun science? Your kids will love these 30 science experiments !

Science Fun

Dyed Flowers

• 3 White Carnations
• 3 Bottles of Food Coloring in Assorted Colors
• 3 Clear 16 oz Plastic Cups

Instructions:

• Fill each cup with water half way.
• Add 3 drops of food coloring into each of the cups. Each cup should be a different color.
• Carefully cut the end of each of the flower’s stem.
• Place each stem in a different colored water cup.
• Wait one hour and observe your flowers’ petals.
• Wait one day and observe your flowers’ petals.

VIDEO COMING SOON BUT YOU CAN STILL ENJOY THESE AWESOME EXPERIMENTS!

How it Works:

The Xylem of the flower works like an elevator and brings the water from the cup all the way up the plant’s stem and into the plant’s petals. When it brings the dyed water up it ends up dying the plant’s petals. The Xylem is what allows the plant to get water from the roots all the way to the petals.

Extra Experiments:

• What happens if you try doing 5 drops of food coloring instead of 3 drops?
• Keep a picture log of your flower. Take a picture each day, and see how many days does it take for your flower’s petals to look the most saturated in color.
• Try using other types of flowers. Do they work as well? Why do you think we suggested using white flowers?

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Color Changing Flowers

A color changing flower experiment is a wonderfully simple science experiment you can do any time of the year. Also great for both the Spring season, Valentine’s Day or St Patrick’s Day! Fun kitchen science that is super easy to set up and is perfect for home or in the classroom. We love science activities for all seasons!

Explore Color Changing Flowers For Spring Science

Why not pick up some simple white flowers at the grocery store and pull out the food coloring. This color changing flower science experiment is a STEMy activity (pun intended).

Get ready to add this simple color changing carnations experiment to your spring STEM lesson plans this season.

Let’s get started if you want to learn about how water moves through plants and how the plant’s petals can change color. While you’re at it, make sure to check out these other fun  Spring STEM activities.

Plus, you don’t have just to use carnations, either. Observe capillary action with this walking water experiment, too! Learn all about capillary action with a hands-on science experiment.

Tips For Setting Up Your Experiment

Use a timer.

Although this color-changing flowers science project takes some time to see the results fully, check in on it occasionally and observe the changes in the flowers.

Set a timer every so often and have your kids record any changes over a day! Set it up in the morning and observe the changes at different times.

Apply The Scientific Method

You can turn these color changing flower activities into a science experiment in a couple of ways:

• Compare results using different types of white flowers. Does the type of flower make a difference?
• Keep the type of white flower the same, but try different colors in the water to see if that makes a difference.

Learn more about applying the scientific method for kids and how to choose variables .

Give It A Valentine’s Day or St Patrick’s Day Theme

This experiment is fun and easy for Valentine’s Day science or St Patrick’s Day STEM activities . All you need to do is change out the colors of the food coloring you use. Choose pink for Valentine’s Day and green for a St Patrick’s Day theme.

Color Changing Flower Experiment

• White flowers (experiment with different varieties)
• Vases or mason jars
• Food coloring

Instructions:

STEP 1:   Trim the stems of the white flowers (carnations work really well but these are what our local store had at the time) at an angle under water.

STEP 2: Squirt several drops of each color food into different glasses and fill halfway with water.

STEP 3: Place one flower into each jar of water.

STEP 4: Watch your carnations change color.

The Science of Color Changing Flowers

Turn beautiful white carnations into pink, blue or even green flowers. But how does it work?

The cut flowers take up the colored water through their stem and the water moves from the stem to the flowers and leaves. Water travels up tiny tubes in the plant by a process called capillary action . Putting a colored dye in the water in the vase allows us to observe capillary action at work.

What is capillary action?

Capillary action is the ability of a liquid (our colored water) to flow in narrow spaces (the flower stem) without the help of an outside force, like gravity.

As water evaporates from a plant, it is able to be pull up more water through the plant’s stem. As it does so, it attracts more water to come alongside it. This is called transpiration and cohesion.

Capillary action relies on the cohesive and adhesive properties of water molecules. Water molecules are attracted to each other (cohesion) and to the walls of the capillaries (adhesion). These properties help water move against gravity and through narrow spaces.

Transpiration is the process where water vapor leaves the plant through the leaves. As water evaporates from the leaves, it creates a negative pressure (tension) in the xylem, pulling more water up from the roots.

Helpful Resources To Get You Started

Here are a few resources that will help you introduce science more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident yourself when presenting materials. You’ll find helpful free printables throughout.

• Best Science Practices (as it relates to the scientific method)
• Science Vocabulary
• 8 Science Books for Kids
• All About Scientists
• Free Science Worksheets
• Science Supplies List
• Science Tools for Kids

Free Printable Spring STEM Cards

Free spring stem guide and challenge cards.

You’ll also be sent weekly projects to your inbox! We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.

Check out more fun spring science ideas!

Check out our list of plant activities for preschoolers , and plant experiments for elementary . Here’s a few of our favorites…

• Start a Seed Germination Jar
• How Do Leaves Drink?
• How Do Trees Breathe?
• Make Homemade Seed Bombs

Printable Spring Activities Pack

If you’re looking to grab all of the printables in one convenient place plus exclusives with a spring theme, our 300+ page Spring STEM Project Pack is what you need!

Weather, geology, plants, life cycles, and more!

11 Comments

Great ideas. Really useful. Thanks a lot.

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Science Project Ideas

Color Changing Flowers

Flowers that change color make an interesting science fair project for kids to understand the method by which plants absorb their food and water from the ground. The magical color change of white flowers is going to leave the young minds awestruck. However, once they know the reason behind it, it will seem to be a normal affair.

Color Changing Flowers Experiment

On immersing the stems of white flowers in food coloring solutions, the petals will be seen to change their color.

• 5 white flowers with long stems without any leaves (carnations, daisies, roses or chrysanthemums work well)
• Food coloring in 5 different colors (You may take red, green, blue, yellow and purple)
• 5 mini containers or jars
• Sharp scissors
• Add half a cup of clean water and 10 drops of food coloring to each jar so that each of them has a different color than the others.
• Cut off the ends of the stems such that about 6 inches of the stems are still left attached to the flowers.
• Place one flower in each jar.
• Leave the jars in a safe place with ample sunlight for about a week.
• Every 3 days, snip off a tiny bit from the ends of the stems to aid in the absorption process of the colored water by the flowers.
• Make your observations at the end of the 1 week period.

You will observe that the white flowers get the color on their petals in which they are dipped. However, there are a few colors like purple that get less absorbed than the other colors like blue and red.

Video on Flowers Changing Color

Why does the color change.

This experiment visually demonstrates how the stems help in carrying water and nutrients from the ground to the higher parts of a plant like the flowers. This “sucking” action is a combination of 2 different physical phenomena. One is transpiration and another is cohesion. Transpiration is the slow evaporation of water from the upper parts of a plant like leaves, flowers and buds. As the upper water molecules are pulled up owing to the above, those molecules that lie further down move up to take their place due to cohesion, that is, the force of attraction between similar particles.

The process resembles the sucking up of a liquid by a straw. Instead of the mouth here we have the sucking action of transpiration. This phenomenon is known as capillary action as the water flows up through narrow tubes or capillaries in the stem called xylem. After the color change, if you split open the stems with a sharp blade, you can observe the colored (originally colorless) tubes running throughout its length. The celery experiment is based on the same principle.

A proper project abstract, method, conclusion and a good research to gather background information are the key ingredients to make this science fair experiment a success. The natural color change is pretty quick and can be seen to start just within an hour of placing the flowers in the food dye.

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Transpiration Experiment – Colour Changing Flowers

May 7, 2024 By Emma Vanstone 26 Comments

Do you know you can change the colour of white flowers by placing them in a pot of food colouring and water? This easy colour-changing flower science experiment is great for learning about transpiration and transport in plants .

Easy Transpiration Experiment

How to make colour-changing flowers

You’ll need.

White flowers

Food colouring – we’ve found Wilton gel colours work well. Natural food colourings DO NOT work in our experience.

Small jar or vase

Transpiration experiment – instructions

Trim the flowers at the stalks.

Fill a vase or jar with water and add a little food colouring.

Place the flowers in the jar and leave for a few hours.

Usually, you will see the flowers change colour within a few hours.

Extra Transpiration Challenges

Try carefully splitting a stem in half with a sharp knife ( ask an adult to do this )

Place one half of the stem in one colour water and the other in a different colour. After a few hours, you should have a flower two different coloured petals!

What is Transpiration?

The white petals change colour because of something called the transpiration stream . Transpiration is the movement of water up the stem of a plant from root to leaf when water is lost from the plant due to evaporation and diffusion of water from a plant’s surface. Firstly, water is absorbed by the root and moves through root hair cells via the process of osmosis . It then moves into the xylem vessel, which is the tube that carries the water up the stem. Water moves up the xylem vessel by adhesion (being attracted to the side of the vessel) and cohesion (water molecules being attracted to each other).

When water evaporates from the surface of the leaves, the pressure change pulls the column of water upwards to replace the water lost. There’s a constant transpiration stream of water through the plant.

The best way to consider this is to imagine you have a thick milkshake – the straw can’t carry the milkshake up itself, but if you suck from the top, the milkshake is sucked up the straw. It moves in a column because water molecules are attracted to each other.

What affects the speed of transpiration?

The rate of transpiration is affected by environmental factors

Factors affecting transpiration

Transpiration is faster when there’s more sunlight. Stomata ( tiny pores on the surface of a plant ) close when it’s dark as they don’t need to be open when photosynthesis is not happening. Photosynthesis also needs sunlight. When the stomata are closed, water cannot escape from the plant’s surface.

Temperature

Transpiration happens at a faster rate in higher temperatures. In warm weather, water particles evaporate and diffuse through the stomata faster, increasing the transpiration rate.

Air movement around the plant

When airflow around a plant is good, transpiration is faster as the water vapour that has just diffused and evaporated from the leaf is moved away, increasing the concentration gradient between the air and the inside of the leaf. Diffusion is faster when the concentration gradient is more significant.

The effect of increasing airflow on the rate of transpiration can be demonstrated using celery, food colouring, water and a hair dryer!

What food colouring should I use?

We have found that natural food colours don’t work, but these Wilton gel colours work every time.

If you liked this experiment, don’t forget to try my other plant science experiments .

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Last Updated on September 17, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

September 26, 2011 at 8:55 pm

I did this for my kids this summer. We used daisy’s…it didn’t work. I have done it with carnations before and it worked, but not sure why daisy’s didn’t work!

October 12, 2011 at 9:13 pm

I think the stem structure can vary somewhat and only certain flowers work effectively. Definitely try carnations next time!

September 28, 2011 at 8:50 am

Thanks for the tip! I’m going to try this one out!

September 29, 2011 at 6:12 pm

It is great! x

September 28, 2011 at 1:32 pm

Yet another fabulous experiment to explore with children! I remember always wanting to try this but never getting round to it.. I WILL with my kids! 😉

Thank you for liking to Kids Get Crafty!

Thanks Maggy

September 30, 2011 at 9:47 pm

You have so many great ideas on your blog. I would love if you would link some of them up to my Weekend Wonders blog hop!

October 12, 2011 at 9:18 pm

Is that a Sat or a Sunday? Can you send us the link, as that would be great! Thanks for stopping by, we are so pleased you like it! 🙂

October 01, 2011 at 6:52 am

I don’t know of a child that doesn’t find this utterly fascinating! It’s such a great idea! I have to have a go at this with Little One!

Thank you for linking up to #handmadethursday x

October 12, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Thank you kindly! Let us know if you do have a go! 🙂 x

October 03, 2011 at 9:43 pm

What a great experiment! Will definitely be giving this one a go! Well done girls, another simple but fun experiement my children will love.

Thank you lovely! x

October 04, 2011 at 11:02 am

I love this experiment – it works really well in the spring as well with Daffodiles we always used to have multi coloured daffs in the house in spring.

October 04, 2011 at 12:33 pm

Thank you! We will definitely have a go with daffodils in the spring.

October 06, 2011 at 8:42 pm

thanks so much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday!

October 12, 2011 at 9:12 pm

Thank you so much. We will stop by. If you have craft posts yourself come and link to our fun sparks on a Thursday! 🙂

October 12, 2011 at 9:17 pm

We are all linked up so thank you! A beautiful sea or turquoise if ever I saw!

January 02, 2012 at 4:44 pm

I remember doing these as a kid with my grandmother – so fun! Thanks for reminding me to do them with my own kids!

January 02, 2012 at 7:55 pm

oh wow! Thats great. It is a really fab experiment! x

January 09, 2012 at 9:39 pm

How long does it take for you to see the change in color?

January 09, 2012 at 10:54 pm

Usually by the end of the day!

March 12, 2012 at 6:28 am

Wondering…If I dye 6 carnations, seperately, a different color each (like the colors of the rainbow), could I then combine them in one vase of plain water after the petals have changed color?

November 05, 2012 at 1:03 am

Hi I tried this but it didn’t work I used a white flower or should I wait longer.

November 05, 2012 at 8:39 am

Make wait longer, or make your coloured solution stronger. Good luck.

January 30, 2014 at 9:23 pm

This is really interesting – am sure my boys would really love this.

April 17, 2018 at 9:56 am

It is a very colourful science topic and also interesting to play around with it

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Laughing Kids Learn

Where learning is made fun

Science experiment with colour changing flowers

September 7, 2015 by Kate 29 Comments

It only required a few materials to set up this science experiment and inspired Possum (aged 3.5 years) to learn more about plants and how they absorb water . 

Recommended age : 3 years +  (Active supervision is required on all my activities) 

The brightly coloured water will transform the white flowers within only a few minutes.

It’s amazing and creates a great ‘WOW’ factor for kids. To do this science activity you will need the following materials – 

• White flowers (chrysanthemums, roses or daisies would work well)
• Small containers or jars
• Food colouring

How to make your flowers change colour

Quite simply, I cut the stem of the flowers so there was about 6 inches of stem remaining before placing one in each of the jars.

I highly recommend ensuring there are no leaves left on the stem as it can go mouldy in the water, which will reduce the time you can keep this activity.   Place your jars in a safe location that will gives them some lovely natural sunlight . We placed our on the kitchen windowsill. 

Making predictions

I wanted the end result to be a surprise to Possum and so I asked her  what she expected to happen to the flowers over time. Some children may benefit from drawing their predictions . It’s also a great idea to do this because children can return to their initial predictions and make comparisons to the actual end result. 

TA DA! 

This is the result of the flowers absorbing the coloured water after one week. All of the flowers absorbed the coloured water and highlighted how it travelled all the way to the tips of the petals to nourish it. Mind blown.

Possum loved watching the changes over the course of the week.  One thing we did observe was that the flower in the purple coloured water didn’t absorb quire as well as the others. Still amazing, but less vibrant in comparison.

Your children can make predictions and record the changes by drawing what they see each day.

It’s a great visual  demonstration of how plants absorb water up their stem to nourish itself. I hope you enjoy this one.

Do you think your child would find this interesting? 

Fabulous ebooks for purchase –

   Follow Kate @ LaughingKidsLearn’s board Laughing Kids Learn on Pinterest.

September 7, 2015 at 1:18 pm

This is so cool! What a fun activity to do with the kids.:)

September 8, 2015 at 10:21 am

Thanks Kat! It was so cool watching the colour appearing through the petals. 🙂

September 8, 2015 at 10:39 pm

Wow these look so colourful and my girls would love to do this activity! We have some white daisies out the front so maybe we’ll try it this week 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration Kate.

September 8, 2015 at 10:59 pm

Daisies would work really well I’m sure! Thanks for commenting Kate. 🙂

September 8, 2015 at 10:45 pm

soooooo pretty – and fascinating! the kids have been asking to do this, so time to rustle up some flowers!

September 8, 2015 at 10:57 pm

They were so gorgeous sitting on our windowsill. Highly recommend this one Kate. Thanks for the comment. 🙂

September 9, 2015 at 2:20 pm

An oldie but a goodie!

September 11, 2015 at 10:25 am

Totally agree Sara. Wish I’d done this one earlier though. So pretty. 🙂

September 9, 2015 at 2:38 pm

Great Science experiment . Thanks to share .

September 10, 2015 at 9:30 pm

I love this timeless activity….the kids are always amazed by the results.

September 11, 2015 at 10:24 am

I could have this experiment sitting on my windowsill all the time! LOL So beautiful. Thanks for commenting Janice! 🙂

September 12, 2015 at 2:31 pm

Superb experiment ! Thanks for shearing this post.

June 25, 2016 at 4:47 pm

Not sure what went wrong but all our flowers died. Some took up a hint of colour but they all just shrivelled up like they didn’t even have water. Just regular daisies, just regular food colouring..

June 25, 2016 at 7:28 pm

Hi Amy, how strange and terribly disappointing! I’ve not heard of that happening, but I guess some flowers just don’t respond to the colouring. If you had the energy to give it another go, I’d double check your glass and water is super clean and possibly buy your flowers from a florist. It’s usually the cheaper white flowers that respond the best. Sorry it didn’t work out for your first attempt. I hope you feel up to trying it again. Let me know how you get on. Best wishes Amy. Thanks for your comment. 🙂

March 30, 2017 at 10:20 pm

I’ve been trying to do this experiment with my class but nothing has worked. Tried different flowers, (carnations and chrysanthemums) different food colouring (colour and brand) different amounts of water to colouring ratio, I’ve tried snipping the stems up the middle too. Nothing going is working. Any ideas where I might be going wrong?

March 31, 2017 at 9:51 am

How very strange Sarah! How long are you leaving the flowers in the water for? I make sure I have there there for a good number of hours, even overnight! That gives the flowers enough time to absorb the water. Are your flowers white? White flowers will show the strongest colour change.

August 29, 2016 at 6:39 pm

Simply sooper…having fun with ma kids…thy loved the most…thnku for giving ths idea…

August 30, 2016 at 3:31 pm

You are more than welcome Malarsree. 🙂

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