Painting With Yeast

Microbial art, also known as ‘agar art’—the act of painting with living microorganisms on solidified growth media—is an evidence-based STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activity that engages students across age groups and disciplines. Due to its growing popularity, various microbial art protocols and commercially available kits are now available to help instructors incorporate this activity into their curriculum. However, despite their simplified nature, these protocols can still present challenges for adoption. This is particularly true for instructors without specialized laboratory equipment (e.g., micropipettes, scales, and autoclaves) or those unfamiliar with specific laboratory methods, such as sterile technique. Here, we provide a simplified ‘Kitchen Microbial Art’ protocol that further reduces the challenges and costs of traditional microbial art protocols. We accomplish this by replacing the use of transgenic microorganisms as paint with dehydrated Baker’s yeast, and removing the requirement for sterile technique by using commercially available pre-poured growth media in petri plates as the canvas. One hundred and twenty sixth-grade students participated in this activity in a standard classroom setting, with many of them reporting that the activity was engaging and fun. Ultimately, this highly simplified and low-cost protocol can make the STEAM activity of microbial art accessible to even younger and broader audiences, including those in remote learning environments.