Embodiments herein describe a dripping system that displays an animation using different colored light sources. In one embodiment, the dripping system includes red, green, and blue light sources which can be activated individually or in combination to emit light that reflects off liquid droplets emitted by the dripping system. Controlling the timing of the light sources permits the dripping system to illuminate the water droplets at different locations along their path which generate the animations. In one embodiment, the dripping system changes animations or alters the animation in response to user interaction. For example, different user hand gestures may be mapped to different water droplet animations. An input/output (I/O) system detects the user interaction and changes the displayed animation.