Students learn to use cabbage juice as paint

Cabbage Makes Art in the Lower School

Junior kindergarten students recently combined art and science by using basic and acidic solutions to paint on paper that was soaked in cabbage juice. Each solution resulted in a different color.

Are you wondering how that works?

Cabbage juice is a great indicator solution- items with a low pH (vinegar, lemon juice) turn the purple cabbage juice pink and things with a high pH (soaps, ammonia) turn the cabbage juice green. We soaked the watercolor paper in cabbage juice and then let the students paint with vinegar and ammonia to turn their papers different colors. As JK artists painted, they recognized how the different solutions began to change the cabbage paper. Students painted lines, shapes and patterns as well as practicing how to use art tools and materials in a responsible way. The finished paintings will be the background for self-portraits that students have drawn on acetate, so the paper can still be part of the focus.