My daughter loves experimenting with Skittles but this time it was my son’s turn to set up a little science  experiment with the classic Skittles experiment, and adapting it for Earth Day. We thought it would work well for Earth Day so designed this Easter STEM Skittles experiment for kids, perfect for a little STEM exploration at home.

Easter STEM skittles experiment for kids

With Easter coming up later this month we thought it would be fun to make an Easter egg out of Skittles. You don’t need much equipment. Just a big bag of Skittles, a white plate, and a bottle of cold water.

My son designed the egg shape and decorated it with a mixture of coloured sweets.

Of course he ate most of the sweets but managed to create a recognisable egg.

Then we poured a little water onto the plate, slowly enough that the sweets didn’t move out of place, but enough to cover them.

Quite quickly the colours leech from the sweets.

The food colouring in the sweets is very strong and creates a pretty pattern.

So why does this happen? Well the Skittles and Smarties are covered in sugar and food colouring which dissolve as the water touches them. The coloured water then slowly moves around the plate.

The above process took about 4 minutes but we left the experiment out a little longer. Eventually all the colour came away from the sweets but the coloured water didn’t really change.

You may be interested in our other Easter crafts and activities:

Dyeing eggs for Easter with food colouring

Sink or float egg experiment

Egg in vinegar experiment for kids