In this science experiment we will use vegetables to paint naturally. We will create
natural dyes for our artwork! So lets do the Natural Painting with Vegetables
- Vegetable skins (carrots, radishes, beets, zucchini)
- Whole vegetables (spinach, broccoli, peppers)
- 1 cup per plant
- Sturdy grinding sticks (and/or a knife, but only if a grown-up is helping you!)
- Paint brushes
- Coffee filters
Process Natural Painting with Vegetables Experiment
1. Freeze the plants overnight.
2. Place each plant in a cup and thaw.
3. Grind, crush, and chop (if a grown-up is helping) each plant until each cup
contains only pulp.
4. Add 5 teaspoons of water to each cup.
5. Let sit for 5 minutes.
6. Dip a different paintbrush into each cup and dab the mixtures on a coffee
filter. See what colors and images you can create!
The Science Behind The Natural Painting with Vegetables Experiment
You made natural dyes! The colored dyes that you made are from pigments found
in plant cells. The pigments found in plants is what gives them color, just like the
pigments in our bodies give our hair, eyes, and skin color. Freezing, chopping,
and grinding the plant helps break the plant cells and release the pigments.
Nearly every plant will produce some kind of color, whether we use leaves, bark,
wood, roots, or fruit. The colorfastness, meaning the likelihood that the color will
fade or run, varies with the color of the plant. Mant plant pigments can be
extracted and used as dyes. These dyes, with additives, can be made into inks.
So grab your friends and do the Natural Painting with Vegetables Experiment.
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