Materials
Brown onion skins Pan of water
Stove Juice from a can of beets
Juice from 1 package of canned blueberries Newsprint
Stapler
Three 2" x 3" (5 cm x 7.5 cm) strips of white cotton or flannel per child
One cardboard strip per child, 1 1/2 " x 8" (3.5 cm x 20 cm)
Instructions
1. Boil onion skins in water to cover to create a brown liquid. Remove skins.
2. Place bowls of beet, berry and onion juice on the table. Look at the foods they came from. Name the colors. Let each child dip a strip of cloth into the beet juice, remove it and squeeze it out. Note the color.
3. Each child may do the same with two more pieces of cloth, one for the blueberry and one for the onion skin juice. Spread the strips out on newsprint to dry.
4. Staple the fabrics onto a strip of cardboard to take home.
5. Talk about how Native Americans and early settlers made their own dyes and inks.More to doMore science: Dye some craft sticks, tongue depressors or flat wooden craft shapes with the natural dyes and use them for making pictures and constructions.
