Maker Monday: Mad Scientist Color Wheel

Kids will have fun learning about colors with this STEAM Maker Monday project. They will love watching the Mad Scientist Color Wheel draw from primary colors — red, blue and yellow — to create secondary colors of orange, green and purple. The bent wicks between each glass give a sense of a laboratory setting, adding to the cool factor. Little ones will love doing all the steps themselves.

And it’s so easy to set up with all the required supplies found in the kitchen pantry.

Supplies:

6 sheets of paper towels (if using premium, highly absorbent towels, half-sheets will work)

6 glasses, mason jars — or even clear Solo cups

Red, blue and yellow food coloring

Water

Fill three of the glasses with water. Set all six glasses in a circle, with an empty glass between each full glass. Add about 6 drops of food coloring to the glasses with water — one with blue, one red, one yellow.

Twist each paper towel into a wick. Give the glasses with water and food coloring a little stir, if needed. Bend each paper towel twist in half and lower one end into a glass with water and the other in the empty glass beside it. Each glass will have two paper towel twists connecting them all in a circle.

Watch as the colored water is absorbed up through the paper towels, leading down into the empty glasses.

As the empty glasses slowly begin to fill, the new colors come to life.

For more Maker Monday projects and other fun stuff for kids, visit the Kidsburgh Activities page.