STEAM at Home: Magic Milk Art

To celebrate International Museum Day (May 18), I decided to experiment with creating magic marble milk using simple household items. Magic Marble Milk is an easy and fun experiment, and the science behind it is really fascinating. If you happen to have watercolor paper, you can cut up the pieces of paper and create little mini portraits of Magic Marble Milk!

For this experiment, you’ll need:

A deep tray or dish
A smaller bowl
Milk (whole milk works best)
Dish soap
Q-tips
Food coloring
Watercolor paper or regular drawing paper (optional)

First, pour a layer of milk into the tray. Next, place drops of food coloring into the milk, spaced out around the tray or dish. You can use a variety of colors; I used red, yellow, green and blue. Next, take your Q-tip and dip it into the soap. Next, touch the surface of the drops of the coloring with your Q-tip. A chemical reaction has occurred!

Questions to ask:
What happens if you use other types of milk (almond or fat-free milk) instead of whole milk?
Could you substitute laundry detergent instead of using dish soap?
You can also try using cotton balls!

The science behind Magic Marble Milk:
The molecules in the dish soap are attracted to the fat molecules in the milk. Once the soap mixes with the milk/coloring solution, the molecules begin to bond and the food coloring begins to burst. Eventually, the reaction begins to break off.

To turn this experiment into an art project, make Marbled Milk Paper by following this tutorial along with my video and pictures.