pH Indicator Art - Or More Fun With Red Cabbage, and a Coffee Filter

I was preparing a bunch of red cabbage juice soaked, coffee filters, to cut up into homemade pH indicator strips, when it occurred to me, they were a very lovely shade of purple.

I thought my youngest two, might enjoy using a couple of them for a craft project. So, I gave them each two filters, along with a little bit of lemon juice, some dish soapy water, and a couple of straws. After a quick lesson in air pressure, vacuums, and using the straws as eyedroppers, I let them loose.

They had a great time turning the papers blue, with the soap, and pink, with the lemon juice, and discovering that color mixing is different on indicator paper, where acids, and bases neutralize each other.



They also had a great time, watching the colors spread out, and experiment with different techniques of folding, and dipping their papers.



It wasn't long before they had used up my entire supply of prepared filters.



I was planning on making another batch anyway, using cabbage cooked in distilled, instead of tap water - following a suggestion from Phyllis at All Things Beautiful. And besides, they came up with some very pretty designs...



...which with some googly eyes, and construction paper beaks, made for terrific owls (inspired by this one, at Crafts by Amanda).


We're really loving the whole science-mixed-with-art thing.

You can find more fun with science, at this week's Science Sunday link-up, at Adventures in Mommydom.

It's great to be a homeschooler.