Experiment - OT: Joseph (2) in the well (Colours that run together)
A fascinating science experiment using coffee filters, felt pens and water
What used to be a beautiful multi-coloured coat became a ragged dirty coat smeared with goats blood. What used to be so beautiful has all been messed up. In this experiment the children see how colours can all run together and get messed up.
This activity is part of a comprehensive Sunday school lesson on Joseph being thrown into the well by his brothers in Genesis 37: 12-36.
View the idea below...

What you need:
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paper coffee filters
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scissors
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pens
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cups
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water
Let's start...
Joseph's beautiful coat
Tell the children about the beautiful coat that Jacob made for Joseph. I wonder what it looked like?
But then it all goes wrong – Joseph’s brothers take his coat, smear it with goats blood and pretend that he is dead. They mess everything up.
Make some beautiful colour combinations
Give each child a large coffee filter and have them cut a circle out of it (you can do this beforehand if you wish). Fold the filter in half twice and then open it back out, so that the four quarters can be clearly seen. The children colour each quarter a different colour – but only the part of the quarter that is nearest to the middle of the filter.
Using more coffee filter paper, roll it up to make a tube. Make a hole in the middle of the filter and push the tube through it. Now fill a cup with water and lower the bottom of the tube into the water. Wait as the water saturates the coffee filter and see what happens as the beautiful colours run together.
The children can experiment a few times with making colour combinations if your time allows.
Watch the demonstration video
To get an idea of how this works, you can watch the video below:
Watch the video
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