experiment with milk washing up liquid and food colouring

How the Milk & Dish Soap Experiment Works

A fun demonstration for kids.

If you haven't done this colourful demonstration for your kids, you probably should. It is both educational and entertaining.

The experiment/demonstration is easy: Put some milk in a a wide shallow dish, add some drops of food colouring and then put is a few drops of dish washing soap/liquid.

It is fun to watch the colours swirl, but what is actually going on? Why are the colors swirling? In this post, we look at the science behind the milk and dish washing soap chemistry experiment.

How Does it Work: Simple Explanation

Firstly, keep in mind that the food coloring is only there so you can actually see what is going on. Without it, the milk and dish soap will act the same, but it would be really hard to see the effect with your eyes.

Milk contains fat. Dish washing soap bonds to fat. So the molecules in the soap are racing around joining up with fat molecules. It keeps going until the soap becomes evenly mixed in the milk.

How it Works: Complex Answer

For a more complex answer, we did some research, and found a great explanation on Scientific American .

Detergent, such as liquid dish soap, is mostly surfactants. These can lower the surface tension of water as well as milk, which contains water and molecules of fat. Surfactants have a hydrophilic part that wants to interact with the water and a hydrophobic part that wants to interact with the fat molecules. Because of this, when the cotton swab with soap touched the milk, the soap separated the fat from the water in the milk, dissolving the fat (which is how soap cleans greasy, dirty dishes). This also decreased the milk's surface tension. As the soap spread out from the cotton swab, it decreased the milk's surface tension around it, and the higher surface tension surrounding this area pulled the milk (along with its food coloring) toward it. If enough soap is added, however, the soap and milk become evenly mixed and the milk (and food coloring) no longer move when more soap is added.

Watch the Color Changing Milk Experiment

Here is a short video demonstrating the effects of adding dish soap to milk.

How Arduino Works: Simply Explained

If you are trying to understand how Arduino works, here is a really simple explanation so you understand the process.

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Magic Milk Science Experiment – Amazing Explosion of Color!

Did you know that it is easy to turn ordinary milk into a rainbow of crazy colors? With only four common kitchen items, kids are thrilled by the color explosion created by the hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules in our magic ingredient!

Watch our demonstration video, then print out a materials list and instructions to plan for this simple and fun science experiment. Easy to understand explanation of how it works is included below.

JUMP TO SECTION: Instructions | Video Tutorial | How it Works

Supplies Needed

• Milk (Must be either Whole or 2%)
• Food Coloring. The more colors the better
• Shallow Dish or Bowl

Magic Milk Science Lab Kit – Only $5

Use our easy Magic Milk Science Lab Kit to grab your students’ attention without the stress of planning!

It’s everything you need to  make science easy for teachers and fun for students  — using inexpensive materials you probably already have in your storage closet!

Magic Milk Experiment Instructions

Step 1 – Pour some milk into a shallow dish or bowl until the milk covers the bottom.

Step 2 – Add some drops of food coloring on the milk. You can use a variety of colors, just be sure to add 3-4 drops of each color.

Step 3 – Add a drop of dish soap into the center of the milk.

Step 4 – Watch in amazement as the colors dances across the surface of the milk. Do you know what caused the colors to move around in the milk? Find out the answer in the how does this experiment work section below.

Video Tutorial

Detailed Magic Rainbow Milk Science Experiment Step by Step Instructions

How Does the Science Experiment Work

The key to the dancing colors in this experiment is soap! Soap molecules consist of a hydrophilic (“water-loving”) end and a hydrophobic (“water-fearing”) end. Water molecules are polar molecules that can dissolve other polar molecules. Fat (and oil) molecules are nonpolar molecules, so they cannot dissolve in water.

Milk is a mixture of water, fat, vitamins and minerals. When soap is added to the milk, it helps to separate the water and fat in the milk. When soap is mixed in with the fat and water, the hydrophobic end of the soap molecule breaks up the nonpolar fat molecules, and the hydrophilic end of the soap molecule links up with the polar water molecules. Now that the soap is connecting the fat and water, the nonpolar fat molecules can be carried by the polar water molecules.

As the soap molecules connect to the fat molecules, the molecules of the food coloring get pushed around everywhere resulting in an explosion of color! As the majority of soap molecules attach to the fat molecules and the soap spreads throughout the milk, the color explosion will slow and eventually stop. Add more soap and see if there are more fat molecules that haven’t attached to soap – if there are unattached fat molecules still, the color explosion will begin again.

This experiment works best with 2% and whole milk because they contain more fat.

Other Ideas to Try

Try this experiment again using milk with different fat percentages. Try it with skim milk, 1% milk, 2% milk, whole milk, half and half, and cream. Consider even trying evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. See how the amount of fat affects the explosion of color!

I hope you enjoyed the experiment as much as we did. Here are some printable instructions:

Magic Rainbow Milk Science Experiment

Instructions.

• Pour some milk into a shallow dish or bowl until the milk covers the bottom. Tip: Be sure to use either Whole or 2% Milk
• Add some drops of food coloring on the milk. You can use a variety of colors, just be sure to add 3-4 drops of each color.
• Add a drop of dish soap into the center of the milk
• Watch in amazement as the colors dances across the surface of the milk

Reader Interactions

November 11, 2019 at 6:47 pm

I did this in my science class and it worked really well! I looked at a lot of science experiments but couldn’t find one I liked and then I found this at the last minute and it was really good so thank you for sharing:)

April 12, 2023 at 9:03 pm

I agree, Emma. It has worked every time and was fun to watch! This explanation of the experiment is very informative. I have done this experiment a lot when I was younger. ☺️

August 19, 2020 at 11:48 am

It was pretty cool

October 19, 2021 at 8:33 pm

This was a really fun activity!

November 19, 2021 at 8:26 am

Because of this experiment I got to the finals of my Sci Expo

February 13, 2022 at 8:11 pm

It was actually pretty cool. I did this for my science project. Also, the colors came out really nice! i will definitely try again.

April 2, 2022 at 5:27 am

Thanks a million for these fantastic ideas and explanations!

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Magic Milk Science Experiment for Kids

Nothing happens if you drip food coloring onto milk, but once you add a drop of dishwashing liquid, the milk turns into a swirling wheel of color. Here’s how to perform the magic milk science experiment and a look at how it works.

Magic Milk Materials

This is a great science project for kids because all you need is milk, food coloring, and dishwashing liquid. It’s also easy on your pocketbook because you only need a little of the ingredients.

• Food Coloring
• Dishwashing liquid

How to Do the Magic Milk Science Experiment

• Pour enough milk to cover the bottom of a small place or shallow saucer.
• Add a few drops of food coloring. You don’t need to use different colors, but if you do, you can explore how colors combine to make new ones.
• Observe how boring this is. The food coloring drops stay where you put them and may even sink into the milk and disappear.
• Drip a droplet of dishwashing liquid onto the center of the milk. You don’t need to stir the milk. The colors immediately start to swirl on their own.

How the Magic Milk Experiment Works

Adding food coloring to milk doesn’t have much of an effect. Yes, you can color the milk if you stir it, but if you don’t stir it the color spreads by diffusion . Diffusion is a slow process and not very interesting to watch.

When you add dishwashing liquid, the colors start to swirl. Dishwashing liquid is a detergent. Detergents lower the surface tension of the water in the milk, making it easier for the ingredients on the plate to mix. You can observe surface tension if you pour water or milk into a glass and note you can overfill the container slightly. The anti-gravity water science trick also relies on surface tension.

But, that’s not all detergent does. Detergent is an emulsifier . Each detergent molecule has a hydrophobic (“water-fearing”) and hydrophilic (“water-loving”) portion. The hydrophilic portion orients toward water molecules, while the hydrophobic portion orients toward fat molecules. The end result is that detergent forms tiny spheres called micelles that separate the fat from the water. Basically, an emulsifier helps two immiscible (unmixable) liquids mix. The food coloring swirls throughout the milk as the detergent forms micelles around fat globules within it. The fat content of the milk matters. Skim milk contains very little fat, so the detergent doesn’t have a big effect on it. 2% milk and whole milk work much better for the magic milk project because they contain enough fat to cause a visible reaction between the detergent and milk.

From Project to Science Experiment

Science projects work due to scientific principles. For young explorers, you can explain that detergent changes the properties of milk so colors added to it mix better. Explain that the same process happens when you wash dishes. The detergent makes it easier for oil and grease to lift from dishes and get rinsed away. Also, this is a great project for kids to explore colors. They can see that blue and yellow combine to make green, red and blue combine to make purple, and so on.

But, older children can turn the science project into a science experiment. The difference is that an experiment uses the scientific method . In a nutshell, an investigator observes the project, makes a prediction or forms a hypothesis about what will happen if one thing is changed, and then conducts and experiment to see if the prediction was correct. Here are some ideas of factors to change to turn the magic milk project into a true magic milk science experiment.

• What happens if you increase the fat content of milk? You can compare skim, 2% milk, whole milk, and half-and-half. Or, you can mix oil in with milk before continuing the project. Is there a point where the thickness of the milk slows down the reaction?
• Does the project work with water? With vegetable oil? What happens if you mix water and oil and try the project?
• What happens if you sprinkle glitter onto the milk before adding the detergent?
• Temperature affects the rate of many processes and chemical reactions. Is there any difference if you use very color milk compared with hot milk?

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Magic Milk Science Experiment

January 11, 2023 By Emma Vanstone 4 Comments

This easy  magic milk science investigation is fantastic fun for kids of all ages. All you need is whole milk, food colouring and a little dish soap to create crazy colour explosions. Older children can use this activity to learn about emulsions .

The reaction that gives the colourful display is between the fat molecules in the milk and dish soap. This is why whole milk is the best to use.

How to set up a magic milk investigation

You’ll need.

A shallow tray

Food colouring

Washing up liquid ( dish soap )

Instructions

1. Pour a layer of milk into your baking tray or plate.

2. Gently drip a few drops of food colouring onto the surface of the milk – spread these out.

3. Add drops of the washing-up liquid on top of the food dye and watch what happens.

Safety:  Do not drink the milk after.

What do you think of our magic milk display?

Why does it work?

Think about why we use dish soap in everyday life. It’s to clean our dishes and break down the fat that makes them greasy. Milk is mainly tiny droplets of animal fat dispersed in water; whole milk has a higher fat content than semi-skimmed, which is why it’s the best one to use. The washing-up liquid/dish soap breaks down the fat in the milk. We call it an emulsifier as it allows the water and fat to mix, creating an emulsion. The emulsifier (dish soap) molecules have a water-loving head and a water-hating tail. The tail sticks into the fat droplet and surrounds it, leaving only the water-loving heads. This allows the fat to mix with the water! While doing that, it scatters the food colouring molecules, giving the colourful display you see.

Properties of emulsions

Emulsions are thicker (more viscous) than oil or water and have many uses thanks to their unique properties.

Examples of emulsions in the kitchen

Salad dressings

Other examples are paint and some cosmetics.

Immiscible liquids

Immiscible liquids are those that don’t mix to form a solution.

Examples of Immiscible liquids

Vegetable oils do not dissolve in water. We can use this property of oil and water to make a density jar .

If a mixture of oil and water is shaken and then left to stand, tiny droplets of oil float upwards, and eventually, the two liquids will separate: a layer of oil will form on the surface of the water. However, if an emulsifier is added to the oil and water, a mixture called an emulsion forms, and the oil and water do not separate.

Extension task for magic milk experiment

Try testing different dish soaps to see if they all have the same effect.

Experiment with whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk.

Try one of my other exciting chemistry experiments .

Contains affiliate links

Last Updated on March 14, 2023 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

January 23, 2018 at 6:17 pm

We have done this with whole milk, 2%, fat free, cashew milk and non dairy creamers- they all work. The kids (6-11) like the version with q-tip dabbing soap in. They also experimented with placement of food color droplets.

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Babble Dabble Do

See Exploding Colors in the Magic Milk Experiment

February 25, 2022 by Ana Dziengel 24 Comments

See exploding bursts of color in the amazing magic milk experiment! We’ll show you some two ways to do the experiment and an extension idea for the project as well.

When you add a little bit of dish soap to milk and food coloring, the colors swirl around to form what I would deem very artistic and abstract paintings! For the science behind it scroll to the end of this post.

The magic milk science experiment is a simple science experiment you can do with everyday materials. I love showing kids how to do chemistry experiments using simple household supplies. In fact I would argue that some of the best at-home science experiments use kitchen ingredient s !

We did this project in our after school classes and when our students asked to “take it home” I told them they could easily recreate it in their own kitchen.

Video Overview

Detailed instructions for the magic milk experiment:, how to do the magic milk experiment, magic milk experiment materials.

• Almond Milk or Cow’s Milk
• Q-tips (Cotton Swab)
• Cotton Balls
• Food coloring
• Shallow plate or wide bowls

Magic Milk Instructions: Method #1

• Fill a plate or bowl with milk.
• Drop in at least 2 drops of each of four colors of food coloring. The more variety of colors the cooler the painting.
• Generously dip the end of a q-tip in dish soap.
• Now dip the q-tip (cotton swab) into the milk next to a drop of color.
• The first thing that will happen is the color will burst as soon as the dish soap hits it. It’s a great effect but very short lived. Once there is a little dishsoap in the milk it no longer “bursts”.
• Gently swirl the q-tip through the different colors and you’ll see little rivers of color start to form.
• Continue until the colors begin to mix and become brown. Empty your plate/bowl and repeat.

Magic Milk Experiment Instructions: Method # 2

Time needed:  10 minutes.

This version of the magic milk experiment lasts a long time, provided kids can restrain themselves from moving the cotton ball!

Pour a thin layer of milk in a plate or bowl.

Add a few drops each of food coloring on the center of the plate.

Soak a cotton ball in dish soap.

Carefully place the cotton ball in the center. The colors will explode out of the center!

Let the reaction continue until the colors begin to mix and become brown.

Tips & More

• You don’t need that much milk! I vastly overestimated how much we would need. For a class of 25 kids we used 1 1/2 gallons of milk.
• This is a great use of expired milk products. Put that small amount of whipping cream at the back of your refrigerator to use.
• Kids love the magic aspect of this project. We called the cotton swabs “magic wands.”
• Too much swishing and swirling and you’ll end up with brown muck fast. Of course kids don’t seem to care!

A word about food insecurity

We try to be respectful of the challenges children and families face including food insecurity. As an educator, I try to avoid using food in projects when possible. I make exceptions for projects that may have a lot to teach kids and where I feel we won’t be wasteful. That said, please think carefully about the population of students and families you serve before doing this project. Consider whether they would find this wasteful or offensive before proceeding. Also consider vegan families who may not want their children working with animal products; see some of the alternatives we suggest below.

Magic Milk Variations

• Try Different Milk Types  We have used almond and cow’s milk for this experiment and both worked well. The higher the fat content of the milk the more pronounced the “explosions” should be. A fun experiment would be to compare the results with different types of milk: almond, cow, rice, coconut. You can also experiment with cream, whole milk, and skim milk to see if there is a difference.
• Premix the soap and milk For a variation we premixed the milk and dish soap. You won’t have the color burst effect but it does seem to keep the colors separate a little longer.

The Science Behind the Magic Milk Experiment:

The dish soap molecules are attracted to the fat molecules in the milk. As soon as you introduce the soap to the milk/coloring mixture the molecules race around trying to bond. The food coloring gets pushed around in the process and appears to burst. Eventually the molecules all bond and the reaction stops.

This is a good example of how detergents work, their molecules have two ends: one end is attracted to oils and the other to water. One end of detergent molecules attracts oils and dirt from clothes, dishes etc., and as they stick together they break the oil and dirt down into smaller, easy to remove pieces.

How to Do the Magic Milk Experiment in the Classroom

If you would like to the magic milk experiment with a class full of kids here are step-by step instructions.

Per student Materials:

• (1) Small Plate or other shallow dish (make sure these are waterproof)
• (1) Large Plate or other shallow dish
• Tray to put underneath

NOTE: You may also use a divided plate as pictured above.

T eacher’s Materials:

• Milk 1.5 gallons per class of 25 students
• Tubs to collect dishes in afterwards

Sh ared Materials:

• Small bowl of dish soap
• Q-tips (Cotton swabs)
• Small bottles of liquid food coloring

Experiment #1 Procedure:

• Pass out per student materials. Ask students to place the small plate in the center of the table. It will be used for the second experiment. Ask students to place the large plate in the center of their tray.
• Explain the experiment first. Tell students they will be making colorful explosions using milk and food coloring and a “magic ingredient.” Tell students to use only a few drops of food coloring once it is available. Demonstrate how to carefully squeeze drops out of the food coloring bottles.
• Teacher(s) pour a thin layer of milk in each plate.
• Pass out the shared materials to each group of students.
• Ask students to carefully drop several drops of food coloring in the milk around their plate. Remind them not to disturb the color.
• When everyone has added color tell students to grab a “magic wand” AKA a Q-tip. Ask them to dip the wand into the magic ingredient (soap) but hold it to the side of the plate until everyone is ready. You can ask them if they know what the magic ingredient is.
• Do a countdown and on the count of 3 student should dip their q-tip into one of the drops of color. Instruct students to continue dipping the q-tip into the other drops. Listen for the oohs and aahs!
• When done the teacher should place the plates and milk in tubs to clean.

Experiment #2 Procedure:

• Ask students to place the small plate in the center of their tray.
• Teacher(s) pour a thin layer of milk in each small plate.
• Ask students to carefully drop a good squeeze of three colors of food coloring near the center of their plate. Remind them not to disturb the color.
• When everyone has added color tell students to dip a cotton ball in the soap.
• Instruct students to place the cotton ball in the center of the plate and not move it. See video below. This is an exercise in restraint!
• Watch as the color explodes out of the center of the plate/cotton ball.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ana from Babble Dabble Do (@babbledabbledo)

Turn the magic milk experiment into colorful paper!

Did you know you can expand on this experiment by making Marbled Milk Paper ?

Go HERE   for instructions: 

More Favorite Science Projects to Try:

Michelle - Little Paper Dog says

January 29, 2013 at 7:17 pm

So cool! I can’t wait to try this out with my little guy. 🙂

Ana Dziengel says

January 30, 2013 at 2:28 pm

Thanks Michelle! So simple and fun! BTW your blog is lovely! I particularly love that you have fast and easy projects; I’m trying to do something similar on my blog: quick, easy, simple projects using stuff you already have on hand.

Amanda Preiser says

April 18, 2013 at 5:06 am

This is awesome my daughter and I are going to do this today!

April 18, 2013 at 5:33 am

Thanks for stopping in Amanda! It’s a super fun and simple project. Enjoy!

August 21, 2014 at 11:08 am

Thanks! I’m an art teacher. There’s so many meet ideas I got from your blog. Thanks!

September 4, 2014 at 3:49 am

Linda, I’m thrilled to hear it! Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Denise says

August 23, 2014 at 1:45 pm

what type of paper did you use for the milk painting project?

September 4, 2014 at 3:51 am

Hi Denise, I used watercolor paper 🙂

Virginia says

January 3, 2015 at 12:34 pm

Did I miss something? I didn’t see directions for a little paper dog. I love this site. GREAT ideas Sorry if ? is dum! I can hardly wait to make the crystals. You know, Epsom salts have done ‘miracles’ ever since I knew of them! They were up front and most important in the “medicine cabinet” of my parents who had fifteen children, therefore many opportunities to use the salts for ‘injuries, localized infections and sore spots.’ Now I see they can add enormously to the decorations in my life as well as do almost magical “healing” Wish my Dad could see those! “What a Wonderful World!” Thank-you!

January 5, 2015 at 5:30 am

Thanks Virginia!

Rachel Holland says

February 7, 2015 at 9:57 am

I have tried this experiment out with my children today. I was really excited about it after seeing the lovely photo’s etc, however it was a bit of a flop. Tried it with Almond milk as suggested and semi skimmed cows milk, but when we put in the washing up liquid not much really happened. We changed the washing up liquid and got much better colour spread. However when it did the colours almost pretty much disappeared and trying to get paintings from them was so wishy washy. Are food colourings in the US very different to those in the UK, or do I just need to buy better colourings? I assumed that the liquid colourings from my local supermarket would be fine. I have also tried with gel colouring (which is the only thing that most stores stock) but this wasn’t particularly good either. I really want to make some lovely backings for Mother’s day cards etc but I am drawing a blank! Any help you could give would be great.

February 19, 2015 at 4:14 am

Hi Rachel, I’m sorry to hear this! Gel food coloring will not work. Regular food coloring should work fine. You will need to make the prints right away, if you wait until the colors are mixed you will get muddy results. And make sure you are using watercolor paper. I tried the project using cardstock and regular paper and they just didn’t absorb the color well. I hope this helps and please keep me posted!

J lewis says

February 19, 2017 at 10:09 am

Hello there, We used paste food colouring from cake shop, used to colour roll out icing, much better than the supermarket colours, which are useless for most things now as they have changed the formulas. Mix the colour paste with a little water to make a strong coloured liquid, we use this for colouring pasta too and play dough.

February 22, 2017 at 5:19 am

Thanks for the tip!

August 19, 2015 at 9:18 am

Was looking for the science explanation (chemical reactions) to share with the students while doing this? I like teaching the science of a science based experiment.

Neera Talukder says

October 25, 2015 at 6:56 am

can the whole milk be used as a substitute for almond milk ?

November 9, 2015 at 9:12 am

Absolutely!

Peggy Ashbrook says

November 30, 2015 at 4:27 am

I love it when you add the science concepts involved, both at an adult level to refresh our memories or learn new, and at a level appropriate for young children. Exploring the properties of art materials engages children in art and science!

August 16, 2016 at 5:13 am

Thanks so much Peggy!

Lisa Lewis says

January 21, 2016 at 8:07 am

I have tried the milk art 3 times with my grandchildren. We were very excited to watch the action of the colors in the milk but no much happened. I used whole milk, food colors, and Dawn dish soap. But once I put the drops of soap in the colors spread a little and then nothing else happened, I have read the posts and people talk about all the movement of the colors but we didn’t get that result. Am I doing something wrong?

August 16, 2016 at 4:51 am

Once the soap and fat molecules combine the reaction does stop. We like to swirl the milk using Q-tips after and watch the colors swirl.

Milton Garcia says

August 7, 2016 at 7:01 am

Messy. But I think my kids would love this activity.

August 15, 2016 at 8:06 am

They will love it!

Morgan says

August 23, 2016 at 12:22 pm

This looks like so much, and I love how it turns out. This would be a great project to take on with my four-year-old! Thanks so much for the idea!

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Colour Changing Moving Milk Experiment

You will need:

• Food colouring
• Washing up liquid
• A cotton bud or a toothpick
• A container such as a small plate
• Pour a fine layer of milk into your container.
• With the pipette, add some drops of different food colouring to the milk. Why not play around and create shapes?
• Take your toothpick and add some washing up liquid to one of its ends.
• Dip the end of the toothpick in the milk where the food colourings are. See how the colors are spreading out. You can now create some beautiful art in a Van Gogh style thanks to this colour changing milk experiment!

The science bit:

• The washing up liquid is fat repelling, that’s why it’s a detergent and that’s how it cleans up grease.
• Milk is made of fat, so that when you dip some washing up liquid into the milk, it will repel the fat in the milk and make it move away.
• Since the food colouring is on the surface of the milk, it’s moving along with the milk away from the washing up liquid.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUFTqKJpLJ0[/embedyt]

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