Rainbow Stew

Rainbow Stew – make a rainbow in a bag!

• Rainbow stew recipe (see below)
• 3 bowls
• Red, yellow and blue food coloring
• A spoon
• A cooking pot
• A stove
• Two heavy duty ziploc bags
• Duct tape (optional)
• An adult to help out!

Rainbow Stew Recipe

• 2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 2 cups cold water

Adapted from Mudpies to Magnets: A Preschool Science Curriculum by Robert A. Williams, Robert E. Rockwell and Elizabeth A. Sherwood

1. Ask an adult to help you!
2. Combine sugar and cornstarch in pot and stir
3. Slowly add the cold water and stir
4. Heat until it thickens and turns clear, stirring constantly
5. Cool
6. Divide into the three bowls and add one color of food coloring to each bowl, and stir.  Add as much food coloring as needed to achieve desired intensity
7. Add half of each of the three colors into each ziploc bag, making sure to keep the colors separate at this point
8. Seal bags, and tape closed if desired
9. Now it’s time to play, discover and investigate!  Two bags allows adult and child to investigate together.
10. What colors can you make?  Can you make a whole rainbow?
11. Work slowly and carefully so that you can enjoy each color before it turns brown.
12. If you want to save it to play with another day, keep it in the fridge so that it won’t spoil.