Many elementary teachers encounter science lessons with a hands-on component that requires very little engaged thinking by the students. The good news is that any teacher can create successful minds-on inquiry opportunities by adding key instructional strategies to a typical "cookbook" activity. The authors discuss some of these strategies using a common science lesson involving milk, dish soap, and food dye. Milk Fireworks, Cat's Meow, Breaking the Tension--whatever one calls it, this lesson will provide strategies for taking a simple, hands-on activity and transforming it into inquiry. The flexibility to select phenomena that are interesting and meaningful to students adds relevance to the investigation and is also at the heart (and mind) of scientific inquiry. The lesson is ideally suited for teaching important concepts in experimental design. (Contains 3 figures.)