Walking Water Science

Here’s an easy science experiment with simple ingredients found in everyone’s kitchen. We found that cheap, non-absorbent paper towels actually work better. Try the experiment with different types of paper products (such as napkins or toilet paper) and glass containers (such as test tubes or mason jars) to see which works best.

You Will Need:

5 Clear Glasses or Jars
Paper Towels
Water
Food Coloring

What to Do:

1. Line up 5 clear glasses.

2. Have the kids fold paper towels in half multiple times to make four long skinny strips, about an inch wide.

3. Fill the first, third, and fifth glasses with water. Add blue food coloring to the first glass, yellow food coloring to middle glass, and red food coloring to the last glass.

4. Dip one end of a paper towel strip into the glass filled with blue water and lay it over the edge of the empty glass next to it. Then place a separate paper towel from the empty glass to the yellow glass. Continue by putting a paper towel strip from the yellow glass to the fourth glass which is empty. Finally add a paper towel from the empty glass to the glass with red food coloring.

5. It takes time to work so go play and check a few hours later to see if the water has moved from the full glasses into the empty glasses.