Colored Carnations

This is a perfect craft around any holiday or any time of year.  The colors you choose to transform the carnations into can be themed to match holidays, events, ceremonies, or seasons.  Darker colors will work best to color the carnations, but any color is worth a try!  It’s simple and creative.  It’s also a great science experiment for younger girls.   This craft can be combined with other crafts, like making a plastic bottle vase or recycled glass vase.

Materials NeededMaterials Needed:

  • White carnations
  • Liquid food coloring
  • Flower vases
  • Water

DirectionsDirections:

  1. Fill vase ¼ of water.
  2. Add about 15 drops of food coloring to the water in the vase (more if the vase is large and the shade looks too light).
  3. Trim about 1″ off of the stems at the bottom at an angular cut.
  4. Put a flower in the vase and let it sit for 24 hours.

Safety TipsSafety Tips!

  1. Always have an adult cut the flower stems.
  2. Use non-toxic food coloring.

The best way to go about this, since it does take about 24 hours for the flowers to change color, is to set up the experiment during the meeting and have the girls take them home.  Tell them to watch them and ask parents to take photos of the flowers the next day.  At the following meeting, the girls can bring their flowers back if they’re still alive or bring in the photos to share their results.

This is a great craft when working on science badges or as a prelude to a scientific outing.  The process of the water moving up the stem into the petals is known as cohesion. The process gets its name because water is considered a very cohesive or sticky substance, which means that water pulled up through the stem takes on a magnetic-like effect, pulling the water up. The tubes in the plant (also known as capillaries) are very small and thin.

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