Hoppy Easter and Passover and Spring Solstice STEM Sparkers! To celebrate, we're tie dying eggs. I wasn't sure whether to categorize this activity as edible science or STEAM, since there is an art component to tie dying, but that is the beauty of STEM and STEAM-- it all interconnects.
One usually uses multiply disciplines in STEM/STEAM, like history (like has this product already been made? what lessons did we learn from the last engineering process), language/writing/reading (if I couldn't write, I'd have no STEM Spark blog!), physical education (we all need to be take care of ourselves no matter our profession), and so on. I guess my point is that SHTEAMLP is a really long acronym and at some point we had to cut it off, so to the other disciplines who aren't in the STEM/STEAM acronym, it's nothing personal.
Alright, that's enough rambling. Let's hop tie dying eggs (wink, wink, groan)!
You'll Need
Boiled Eggs
Food Coloring
Paper Towels/Napkins
Water
Syringe, Pipette, or Spoon
Pan (or newspaper/tablecloth: just something to cover and protect) your table
Instructions
1. Lay out the napkin on work area (which in our case was a pan). Squirt drops of food coloring on napkin.
2. If needed squirt drops of water on napkin (this step helps with color bleed).
3. Place boiled egg on napkin and wrap napkin around egg. Repeat steps 1 thru 3 if you multiple (boiled) eggs.
4. Let the wrapped-up egg(s) sit for at least an hour (look how pretty the napkins we used to wipe our hands are, haha!).
5. Unwrap the egg(s) and enjoy!
I tie dyed one egg, and Jack tie dyed the rest. He really enjoyed this activity, and we hope all you kids out there like it too! There is a pretty nifty video on the science behind boiling an egg; click here. It is something to watch while you wait for your eggs to boil (which is technically a pre-step to step 1). And to end this post, let's go out on a pun. What do you call a bunny who studies airplanes and rockets? A hare-o-space engineer!