Food coloring to dye eggs

Type of resource: website, guidelines, game

Web address https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/dye-eggs-ties#summary

Language: English

Description

Experiment with eggs, vinegar and food coloring to dye eggs.

Scientific concept introduced

Dye, porosity.

Creative and critical thinking

Divergent thinking, to explore other ways and diferent colors to dye the eggs.

Mathematical reasoning

To measure the ingredients and prepare the materials we will need.

To develop the ability to observe and discover.

Scientific thinking

To ask questions.

To analyze the experiment.

Learning how to learn

Motivation to learn and engage.

Additional

Use of hand-eye coordination.

Fine motor skills when twisting ties.

Follow the safety rules.

Food coloring to dye eggs

Overall aims

To develop the ability to observe and discover
To strengthen the research attitude of children.
To create the learning opportunity for explaining the concepts of dying, chemistry, chemical reactions

Vocabulary – keywords should be understood

Chemistry; dyes; chemical reaction; acid

Expected learning outcomes (operational aims)

To run the experiment
To dye eggs
To explain the concept of dying, chemistry, chemical reactions; acid
To develop the artistic taste

STEM skills – to which the learning unit is related to

CORE STEM SKILLS

● Asking questions.
● Observing and discovering
● Designing experiments.
● Drawing conclusions based on results.
● Motivation to learn and engage.

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

Develop aesthetic perception
Patience
Hand-eye coordination
Use the oral language to explain, discuss, support a point of view

Teaching methodologies/activity outline

1- Ask the children: Would you like to learn to decorate eggs? We will use a silk tye to dye the eggs
Take the silk tie and turn it over so that you are looking at its back. Using scissors, you carefully cut through the stitches going up the middle back of the tie. Open the tie up as you go. Remove any labels. Continue until you have cut through all of the stitches along the seam. Remove any (usually white) liners running along the inside of the tie Flip the tie over so that its front is facing up.

2- Ask the children: What colors are on the tie? Does it have any patterns/designs? How do you think this will dye the eggs?
Let the children make hypothesis

3-Place an egg a few inches away from the tip of the tie.
Fold the tie’s tip over the egg so that it completely covers the egg. Adjust the position of the egg in the tie so that you can gather up enough tie material on one end to bind the material together.
Once you are satisfied with the egg’s position, cut off the piece of tie that the egg is wrapped in. Cut straight across the width of the tie.
Pinch the tie material around the egg so that it is tight, but be careful not to break the egg! Twist a twist tie around the fabric at the end of the egg. To smooth all of the wrinkles, carefully pull the fabric through the twist tie to tighten it around the egg.

4-Tell the children: We will have two eggs tyed, We will find out if they dye the same or differently. Take a new egg and place it on the tie several inches above where you just cut the tie. Wrap this egg in a higher-up piece of the tie material as you did with the first egg

5-Ask the children to carefully wrap each egg in a second layer of lightweight, light-colored fabric scrap to help hold the piece of tie next to the egg.

6- Ask the children: Why do you think it is important that the fabric be light-colored?

7- For each egg cut the fabric so that you have enough to cover the egg, then ask the children to wrap the new fabric around the egg, twist a twist tie around the end of the egg (on top of the other twist tie), and tighten the light-colored fabric as they did with the tie material.

8- Place one of the eggs in a cooking pot. This egg will be boiled. Place the other wrapped egg, which wil not be boiled, in a similarly-sized large bowl or pot, and ask the children: How well do you think the boiled egg will be dyed compared to the non-boiled egg? Which one will dye better, or darker?

9- Give the children a measuring cup and make them add water to the pot until there is at least about one inch of water above the egg. Tell the children to add the same amount of water to the egg in the bowl. Tell the children: We need the same amount of water in both bowls.

10- Ask the children to add ¼ cup of white vinegar to each egg. Tell them: We need the same amount of vinegar in each bowl. Ask the children: Why is adding vinegar important? What do you think?

11- Place the pot with the egg to be boiled onto the stove. Turn the burner on to medium/high and cover the pot with a lid. To avoid breathing in the vinegar and potentially dangerous dye fumes, leave the lid on the pot while on the stove, turn on an overhead stove fan and/or open a nearby window, Check on the pot on the stove every few minutes to see if the water’s boiling. Remove the lid and reduce heat to medium so that the water is simmering. Let the egg simmer for 20 minutes.

In the meantime let the other egg remaining in its bowl

12- After simmering, carefully remove the egg from the water using tongs or a slotted spoon and place it on some old dishtowels or rags on the counter. Also remove the egg that was not boiled and set it on the old dishtowels.

13- Let the boiled egg get cool (10 minutes)

14- Let the children carefully unwrap the eggs

15- Compare the eggs. Ask the children: What is the difference between the egg that was boiled and the egg that was not? Which one is darker? Look at the boiled egg! The colours are darker! That means that it dyed better! Do you think that heating the egg helped to dye the egg?

16- Explain the children that in both eggs a chemical reaction was produced but in a different way. A chemical reaction between the dyes in the tie, the eggshell, and the acid, which is the vinegar.

17- If you like, ask the children to rub the eggs with a little vegetable oil to make them shiny. Aren’t them nice?

18- Explain the children that they cannot eat any of the eggs and place the eggs in the refrigerator

19- If you want, you can blow the raw eggs out to save the shells

Assessment of learning

Initial evaluation
– Get to know the previous knowledge they could know about the same theme.

Continued evaluation
– Progressively acquire basic habits of autonomy in everyday actions, to act safely and effectively.
– Think, create, elaborate explanations and start the basic mathematical skills.
– Think, create and start to know basic scientific concepts.
– Observe and explore the immediate, natural and physical environment, with an attitude of curiosity and respect and gradually participate in social and cultural activities.
– Participate in the game, through movement, assimilating sensations related to space and to the time and with a progressive understanding of the necessity of some norms.
– Progressively acquire basic habits of autonomy in everyday actions, to act safely and effectively.
– Use the oral language and gesture to express ideas, desires, feelings and emotions.
– Use the oral language to explain, discuss, support a point of view.
– Listen and participate actively in regular situations. Conversation and learning with the use of non-discriminatory language, and with attitude of respect towards other cultures and different languages.
– Pay attention to artistic aspects.

Final evaluation
– To evaluate the learning objectives, use the chart in which the more important elements will be highlighted.

Equipment and materials to be used in learning unit (tools, ingredients etc)

● 100% silk tie.
● Light-colored tablecloth, pillow case, or other lightweight, light-colored fabric scrap.
● Old dishtowels or rags
● Scissors
● Twist ties (4)
● Raw white eggs (2)
● Water
● White vinegar
● Optional: Vegetable oil
● Cooking pot
● Large bowl or another cooking pot, similar in size to the first cooking pot
● Measuring cups
● Well-ventilated stove area, such as provided by an overhead ventilation system or a nearby window that could be opened, or dust masks.
● Timer or clock
● Tongs or slotted spoon