The Art of Enjoying Change
Have fun making some “changeable artwork” using milk. The results are spectacular!
You will need a flat-bottomed pie dish (or something similar) for each of your children plus FULL FAT milk, food colouring in at least three different colours, washing up liquid, and toothpicks or cotton buds. (Don’t use low-fat or skim milk, it doesn’t work.)
- First, do a demo for your kids. Prepare two flat dishes by pouring milk into each one to a depth of about 5 mm or 1/8 of an inch.
- Next, squeeze a drop of food colouring on the surface of the milk. Take other colours and continue spacing drops of food colouring across the milk until there are eight to ten different drops of colour.
- Do the same with the second bowl of milk. Now set this bowl aside and leave it untouched. This will be your comparison bowl.
- Returning your attention to the first bowl, coat the end of a toothpick with washing up liquid, then dip it in the centre of one of the drops of food colouring. Continue to dip the toothpick into each drop of food colouring and watch as the colours “explode” into various shapes and mix together to form new colours. (Washing up liquid both reduces the surface tension in the milk and “pushes” the fat in the milk around the surface, facilitating movement within the milk.)
- Allow each of your kids to try making their own “milk art” while you use the questions for discussion to help your kids understand that life change can be exciting.
- If you wish, take some photos of your milk art, and share them on social media #lpcholidayclub2020 or email them to us at lpcholidayclub2020@gmail.com. You could also print them out and display them with captions such as “Change can be wildly fun!,” “Life is full of colour!” or “There is an art to enjoying change!”
Questions for discussion
- Which bowl of milk has been more interesting to watch? Why?
- How are the bowls like our lives?
- When is life change fun and exciting, like this experiment?
- How are our lives like the seasons: spring, summer, winter and fall?
- Is life ever like this second bowl of milk, with not much change happening?
- Would you like to dip a toothpick into this second bowl of milk now?
Key concepts
Life change can feel threatening, but it can also be exciting. Just as the seasons of nature change and make life interesting, the changes in our lives keep us from getting bored. Some people prefer lots of change while others prefer less change. We know the “art of enjoying change” when we view changes as part of God’s plan for our lives and trust that He loves us and will always be with us.
Relevant Scripture
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”