Traveling Colors.

🌈 What is it about?

Place paper towels between glasses of colored water and watch the colors transfer on their own creating a rainbow. A visual capillarity experiment that looks like magic.

👶 Recommended age: 2–7 years
⏱ Estimated time: 1 to 2 hours
💪 Energy level: Low
💰 Approximate cost: Low

🛒 Materials needed

• 7 clear glasses
• Paper towels or absorbent paper
• Food coloring in red, yellow and blue
• Water

🛒 Food coloring set

🏠 Home alternatives

Don't have all the materials? No problem.

• Instead of food coloring → use watercolor paint diluted in water.
• Instead of paper towels → use strips of absorbent fabric or thick kitchen paper.
• The glasses can be any type — plastic, glass or even mugs.

📋 Step-by-step instructions

1. Arrange 7 glasses in a row alternating empty and filled with colored water — red, empty, yellow, empty, blue, empty, red.
2. Add plenty of food coloring to each glass with water so the color is intense.
3. Fold strips of paper towel and place them connecting each glass to the next.
4. Wait and watch — within 30 minutes the water will start climbing up the towels.
5. Within a few hours the empty glasses will fill up and where colors meet new colors will appear.

💡 Extra ideas

• Take a photo every 30 minutes to document the progress.
• Explain to your child that the paper absorbs water and carries it upward — just like plant roots do.
• Experiment with different types of paper to see which one absorbs fastest.

🎥 Example video

Watch tutorial