One of the "good old" standard activities middle school students seem to enjoy is paper chromatography. The procedures and materials needed are relatively simple and the results can be colorful. All too often, the activity ends just after these colorful results are obtained, cutting short the potential it holds for some further inquiry. With some ingenuity and forethought, teachers can easily modify this activity to promote more inquiry by their students, and address levels 5?8 National Science Education Standards for inquiry and physical science which focus on the properties and changes in matter (NRC 1996). Appropriate modifications can also provide students additional practice in measuring, collecting and analyzing data, and generating additional questions to investigate. (Contains 5 color enhanced figures.)