Candy Experiments

Nothing like being sick over Easter break!  Maybe my body is just telling me to slow down. At least it gives me some time to work on the various projects I want to complete including my Ancient Egyptian unit for 3rd grade, a place value unit and my measurement unit. 

I wanted to share some experiments my students did with me this week.  I got the ideas from Pinterest through the following sites:  http://www.candyexperiments.com/2009/09/acid-test.html and http://eisforexplore.blogspot.com/2012/03/jelly-beans-and-sprite.html .


Of course I forgot my camera, so no pictures, but visit the above websites for more information.

I changed them a bit, but the concept stays the same.  With Kindergarten, I did the EisforExplore jellybean experiment except I used water instead of Sprite.  I also used vinegar instead of the Sprite.  They loved graphing the colors, estimating the number of jelly beans that would fit in the bigger jelly bean, and hypothesizing what would happen if you put a jelly bean in water or vinegar.  They LOVED it!  I was highly impressed by their hypotheses.  Many said that it would change the color of the water and one even said it would turn the bean white.  Of course a few thought that the bean would explode.

I did the candy acidity test from Candyexperiments.com with my 1st and 2nd graders.  She used Pixie Sticks, but I chose 4 other types of candy: Trolli's Sour Eggs, Sour Patch Kids, Smarties, and Skittles.  We dropped each candy into a mixture of half a cup of water with 1/2 tsp of baking soda.  (We made sure we stirred really well as it starts to settle quickly).

I won't spoil the fun by telling which is what, but a hint for after the initial experiment, crush/smash each candy before putting in for more fun!  If it contains acid it will bubble. Some bubble more than others!

I created a table with each candy name and a column for hypotheses and results.  We don't get enough science in at my school :(. So they are always excited to experiment.  It is definitely fun for the teacher, too!


With my 6th graders, we looked at cold water currents (also from CandyExperiments.com).  In this experiment you put a bag of ice on one side of a tray filled with water.  Then you drop in M&M's and let the dissolve and notice how the color spreads.  It is in correlation to the cold water current.  The M&M's I had were way too light (Easter colors) so we tried Skittles and it worked beautifully.  They also wanted to try food coloring so we did that as well.  I think that worked even better, but don't shake the tray as it will affect the test.  One group kept hitting the table when trying to look at it closely.  Again, there are pictures on her site: http://www.candyexperiments.com/2011/03/experiment-cold-water-currents.html.
 I need to keep my camera handy next time! 

Hoppy Easter everyone!
Colleen