Fireworks in a Glass

With the 4th of July just around the corner I thought it would be fun for us to do some activities related to the upcoming holiday.  I have seen this particular experiment on many different blogs over the past year and thought it would be fun to try.  Typically it is called "Fireworks in a Jar" but I didn't have any glass jars so we used some drinking glasses.

Each of the children had their own glass and bowl and were able to do their own colorful "fireworks".  We did it twice because the first time didn't work very well. I put too much food coloring in and when I poured the oil into the glass the color mixed too quickly. Putting 4 drops of food coloring in total worked the best (versus the 10+ drops we used the first time).

Instructions:
1.  Fill your glass or jar with warm water.
2.  Pour vegetable oil in a small bowl or plate.
3.  Squeeze several drops of food coloring into the oil.
4.  Gently mix the drops of food coloring with a fork.
5.  Pour the oil and food coloring mix into the water.
6.  Watch the "fireworks".

This was a super easy and fun experiment.  And we didn't end up with much of a mess at all which is always a good thing! :)