We have a fun activity and science experiment you can try with your family. Along with the story behind it here at Nicholasville Nursing & Rehab.

As we reminisced on Valentine’s past and other times we’ve received flowers, our residents shared with each other their favorite flowers. Resident, Lynn Noe, shared that the Carnation was her favorite flower.

Lynn then asked the group – Do you know how they get all their bright colors?

We did not and Lynn, along with another resident who owned a florist, shared that this is done with food coloring.

We then asked – How long would it take to turn a color?

As an experiment, we decided to separate some of the white carnations into vases and added food coloring. We watched excitedly through the week’s end. After a few days, we discovered it worked! They noted that in the future they would leave the flowers in the color a bit longer.

Here are the instructions to try this flower experiment:

Color Changing Flowers

Instructions:

1. Trim down the stems of the flower so they fit your cups or glasses.
2. Add water to each cup.
3. Then put about 10-15 drops of food coloring in the water and stir around a bit.
4. Add at least one carnation to each glass of colored water.
5. Check-in on the flowers every couple of hours and observe any changes.

Tip: The longer the flowers stay in the color, the more vibrant the color will become.