Make Floating Fall Art

This fall science experiment turns into a fall-themed drawings into artwork that floats on water.

 

Materials you’ll need

• dry-erase markers in fall colors (orange, green, red, brown, pink)
• metal spoon
• clear bowl of lukewarm water
• paper towel (optional, to set under the bowl so your art stands out)

 

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Draw a fall shape on the back of a metal spoon (the rounded side) with dry-erase markers. Try an orange pumpkin with a green stem.

Step 2: Fill a clear bowl with lukewarm water.

Step 3: Hold the spoon at a slight angle and slowly dip your drawing into the water. Watch the art lift off the spoon and float away!

Step 4: Make more of your favorite fall shapes, like a red apple with a brown stem. For a jack-o’-lantern, draw an orange pumpkin, then add a brown stem and face right on top before you dip it.

Learn more

This floating drawing experiment works because of what’s inside a dry-erase marker. The ink mixes color with a solvent, usually a type of alcohol, plus an oily silicone ingredient called a release agent that keeps the ink from gripping smooth surfaces like your spoon. Once the alcohol evaporates, a thin layer of color and silicone stays behind. When you dip the spoon, water slips underneath that layer, and since the oily silicone won’t mix with water and is lighter than it, your drawing lifts off and floats.

Hooked on watching oily ink refuse to mix with water? Oil + Water Chemistry gives kids beakers, test tubes, and squeeze bulbs to run oil-and-water experiments like underwater fireworks, then turn the swirls into postcard art.