Lava Lamp

Anything involving colouring water appeals to my son so we tried making our own lava lamp.

The set up.

What you need:

- tall thin glass

- food colouring (we used a few drops of blue)

- water (enough to fill 3/4 of your glass)

- olive oil (enough to fill 1/4 of your glass)

- 3-4 tbsp salt

Amounts will vary depending on the size of your glass.

Step 1: Colour the water

My son added a few drops of food colouring to the water and gave it a stir. He got carried away and added too much colouring which made the water a bit too dark. Lighter lava lamps show up better.

Pour the coloured water into the glass, it should fill up approx. 3/4 of the glass.

Colouring the water.

Step 2: Add the oil

Pour the oil into the glass with the water. The oil should fill up the remaining 1/4 of the glass.

We left a gap at the top to avoid spillages.

Adding the oil.

Step 3: Add the salt

I asked my son to add 4 tbsp of salt and to watch what happens as the salt falls into the glass.

We talked about how the salt sank to the bottom of the glass and how it looked.

Adding the salt.

The end product:

My son enjoyed watching the 'lava' bubbles in his glass. Unfortunately because my son got too excited when adding the food colouring his lava lamp was a bit dark. I would recommend either using a lighter colour or fewer drops next time.

Watching the bubbles.