Kitchen Lab: Edible Experiments and
Other Mad Scientist Recipes
By Tamara Christine Van Hooser
“Who—me? Teach science? You must be joking! I barely passed
science when I was in school. I’m certainly not qualified to teach it now!” The
prospect of teaching science brings to mind names such as Einstein, Newton, and
Bernoulli, along with the complex equations and scientific theories they
espouse. Thus, it is easy for a homeschool parent with no science degree to
view science as a daunting challenge and to shy away from teaching science.
It’s easy to become even more discouraged by the price tags found on numerous
materials required for science experiments, especially if you have a limited
budget.
The truth is that science is all around us, and
it takes no special training, knowledge, or extra expense to introduce your
elementary-aged children to basic scientific principles right in your very own
kitchen with common household ingredients. As The Magic Schoolbus’s Miss Frizzle likes to say, the key to
making science come alive for kids is to “take chances, make mistakes, get
messy.” Conducting science in your kitchen lab is an excellent vehicle for
tying in cross-curricular skills such as measurement, nutrition, responsibility,
and following directions, as well as kitchen safety and the scientific process.
Select recipe experiments that end in an edible treat to motivate your kids’
scientific curiosity, and reward the junior mad scientists for a project well done.
Homemade Root Beer
Combining root beer and science will be an
instant hit for all root beer lovers.1 While many recipes call for
ingredients that the average family does not have handy, a simple recipe of brewer’s
yeast, root beer extract, sugar, and warm water is enough to teach kids about
fermentation and carbonation.
Mix ¼ teaspoon yeast in a cup of warm water. Dissolve
1 pound of sugar in ½ gallon of water heated to 180 degrees F. Stir in 4 to 6
teaspoons of root beer extract and let cool.
Mix in the yeast solution and carefully pour
the mixture into a plastic gallon-sized jug. Pour in enough warm water to fill
the jug, leaving 2 inches empty at the top, and twist the lids on securely. Keep
the bottles at room temperature for three to four days, and then refrigerate
for an additional four to seven days.
For young children, a quick version of this
experiment substitutes dry ice for yeast. Simply place the dry ice in the root
beer liquid in an airtight container, such as a portable cooler. It should be
carbonated and ready to drink in one to four hours. Add ice cream for a root
beer float celebration, or hold a taste test to compare commercial brands to
your homemade version.
Ziplock Ice Cream
For a completely scientific treat, make your own
ice cream to go with your homemade root beer.2 In addition to being a
tasty project, making ice cream is a good way to learn about freezing, melting,
and changing states of matter. In a quart-size ziplock bag, mix ½ cup milk, ½ cup
heavy cream, ¼ cup sugar, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla. Seal the bag securely and
place it within a 1-gallon size ziplock bag filled with 2 cups of ice and ¾ cup
rock salt.
Seal the gallon bag and let the child squeeze
and shake the bag vigorously until the mixture thickens like ice cream. Spoon
the ice cream into your float or a bowl, and enjoy your tasty treat. Optionally
you may substitute other flavors for vanilla, such as adding mashed berries,
chocolate syrup, peppermint extract, or food coloring for a colorful snack.
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Pizza Science
Kids love pizza, so tell them they get to make
pizza for science and they’ll want to repeat the experiment over and over again.3
Most people are familiar with baking a pizza in the oven, but can you cook one
on the stovetop or over a barbecue or campfire? This experiment will answer
that question and take care of lunch or dinner for the day.
Using frozen pizzas, try cooking them in a dry
skillet and a lightly oiled skillet. Do you get better crust results from a
covered or uncovered skillet? Light up the barbecue and bake your pizza on the
grill with and without foil underneath. Build a campfire and wrap the pizza in
tin foil. Place it in the hot coals and see how long it takes to cook.
Which method produces the crispiest crust? Experiment
with different cooking methods until you find the one that works best.
Science Art
Young children can learn about the art and
science of mixing colors with an edible rainbow cupcake color wheel craft.4
Mix up a batch of your child’s favorite cake mix and bake some cupcakes.
Put out six small dishes of white frosting and
food coloring. Stir colors into each cup, making red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
and purple, letting your kids discover that red and blue make purple, red and
yellow make orange, and yellow and blue make green. Frost each cupcake in a
single color and demonstrate how to place them in a ring to make a color wheel
that mimics the order of colors in a rainbow.
Edible Cell Model
Learning the parts of a cell can have a numbing
effect on kids who do not like memorizing or are intimidated by all the long
scientific names, but an edible model turns it into a fun project.5 Cell
models can be made out of Jello, cake, pie, or any other treat that appeals to
your child. Each part of the cell is represented by a different type of candy,
so ask your child to create a key that tells which candy stands for which cell part.
It should include the cytoplasm, Golgi bodies, lysosomes, mitochondria, nuclear
membrane, nucleolus, nucleus, ribosomes, rough and smooth endoplasmic
reticulum, and vacuole.
Place each part in its correct location on the
body of the cell. Take pictures or make a video of your child explaining the
project, and . . . enjoy the dessert!
Rice Krispy Skin
In the same vein as the cell model, mix up a
batch of rice krispy treat mix to mold a model of the skin.6 Use
licorice vines or strips of fruit leather in different colors to represent the
veins, arteries, sweat glands, and nerves. Paint a strip of food coloring or
frosting along the top to represent the epidermis. Rows of round chocolates
represent hair. Make a photographic record of the masterpiece for posterity’s
sake before devouring.
Plant Part Salad
So many plants are edible or have edible parts
that turning the study of plant parts into a kitchen science project is a
natural fit.7 Have your child select at least one salad ingredient
from each part of the plant: leaves, flower, fruit, root, stem, and seed. Mix
it all together and top with your favorite dressing, or make your own dressing.
Include the salad on the dinner menu, and let your child bask in the rave
reviews of her culinary talents.
Taste Test
A taste test experiment is a yummy way for kids
to explore what makes a good (fill in the blank).8 Select a product
that is available in several brands or varieties, for example, strawberries,
apples, chocolate chip cookies, or potato chips. Make a list of the criteria
that each sample will be graded on, such as sweetness, tartness, texture,
crunchiness, or color, as well as how it will be graded.
Dole out the samples without letting the
children know which is which, to avoid predetermined bias. Have them grade each
sample on the criteria chosen. When all tests are done, reveal which brand or
variety corresponds to each test and determine each child’s favorite in a blind
taste test.
Edible Crystals
Growing crystals is a classic earth science
project, but if a kit and chemicals with unpronounceable scientific names are
not within your budget, try using sugar and water or maple syrup to create your
edible crystals.9
Heat sugar and water in a 3:1 ratio and stir
until sugar is dissolved completely. Add any coloring or flavor that suits your
taste, let the mixture cool in the refrigerator, and then pour it into a clean,
clear jar.
Coat a long piece of string with the sugar
liquid and suspend over the jar opening so that it hangs to the bottom of the
jar. Store the jar where it won’t be disturbed, and over the next several days
watch the crystals form on the string.
Maple syrup crystals grow even more quickly. Heat
the pure maple syrup until it thickens, and then pour it over a bed of ice or a
chilled plate to see crystals form in minutes. When the candy crystals have
grown large enough to suit your child, let him try his homemade candy.
PBJ Earth
If you have ever been a kid, you know that
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are an indispensable feature of childhood. What
you may not know is that if you can put aside your mom’s admonitions for a
moment and let your kids play with their food, you can turn PB and J into a
science lesson about the layers of the earth’s crust.10
Lay out bread, peanut butter, jelly, and honey,
and give each child a blunt dinner knife or plastic knife. The bottom layer of
bread represents the rock of the inner solid core. Spread with honey, which
represents the outer liquid core, and add a second layer of bread to represent
the lower mantle. Spread a layer of peanut butter to represent the asthenosphere,
spread jelly to represent the upper mantle, and the top bread layer will
represent the earth’s crust.
You may also choose to cut the sandwich
diagonally and push, pull, and slide the pieces to demonstrate divergent,
transform, and convergent boundaries in plate movements. Once the science demonstration
is over, lunch is on!
Endnotes:
1. Homemade
Root Beer. (June 30, 2012) Retrieved from All Recipes: allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-root-beer/
Making Root Beer. (June 30,
2012) Retrieved from Learning Zone Express: www.learningzonexpress.com/Documents/Worksheets/3519_Food_Science_Worksheet.pdf.
2. Anne Marie Helmenstine, P. (June 30, 2012) Make
Ice Cream in a Baggie. Retrieved from About.com Chemistry:
chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/a/aa020404a.htm.
3. Helmenstine, Anne
Marie, Ph.D. (June 30, 2012). Stove Top Frozen Pizza Science
Experiment. Retrieved from About.com Chemistry: chemistry.about.com/od/foodscienceprojects/ss/Stove-Top-Frozen-Pizza-Science-Experiment_2.htm.
4. Lipoff, Sarah. (June 30, 2012). Edible Color
Wheel. Retrieved from Education.com:
www.education.com/activity/article/edible-color-wheel/?coliid=805.
5. Howard, Todd and Nick Hoffman. (June 30, 2012). The
Incredible, Edible Cell. Retrieved from Access Excellence at the National
Health Museum: www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/released/0251-NickHoffman.
Jello 3-D Animal Cell Craft. (June 30, 2012). Retrieved from Enchanted
Learning: www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/cell/jello.
6. Fun Biology Science Project for Kids—An edible skin
model that is made with Rice Krispie Treats and candy. (June 30, 2012). Retrieved from Hub Pages: hteacher.hubpages.com/hub/Fun-Biology-Science-Project-for-Kids-An-edible-skin-model-that-is-made-with-Rice-Krispie-Treats-and-candy.
7. Van Hooser, Tessa. ((June 30, 2012). Tessa’s Plant
Part Salad. Retrieved from All Recipes: allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/62739062/tessas-plant-part-salad/detail.aspx.
8. Bilgrami, Shaheen. (June 30, 2012). Test Your
Tongue: Are Strawberries Sweet or Sour? Retrieved from Education.com:
www.education.com/activity/article/fool-tongue-strawberries-sweet-sour/?coliid=801.
9. Helmenstine, Anne
Marie, Ph.D. (June 30, 2012). Maple Syrup Crystals. Retrieved
from About.com Chemistry:
chemistry.about.com/od/sugarcrystalsrockcandy/a/Maple-Syrup-Crystals.htm. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (June 30, 2012). Rock
Candy—How to Make Rock Candy. Retrieved from About.com
Chemistry: chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/a/rockcandy.htm.
10. “Peanut Butter and Jelly” Earth Layers. (June 30, 2012). Retrieved from Montana State
University Dept. of Mathematical Sciences:
www.math.montana.edu/~nmp/materials/ess/geosphere/inter/activities/application/index.html.
Edible Geology. (June 30, 2012). Retrieved from Nevada Commission of
Mineral Resources: minerals.state.nv.us/forms/educ/EdibleGeology.pdf.
Tamara lives in
western Oregon with her husband, Christopher, and homeschools William and
Tessa. She taught elementary grades in public school settings for seven years.
When she is not teaching or writing, she enjoys reading and volunteering at
church. She considers teaching her children to “love
the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and their
neighbor as themselves” as their most important educational goal. To connect with
her, please visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/teachingisFUN.
Copyright, 2012. Used with permission. All rights
reserved by author. Originally appeared in The Old Schoolhouse®
Magazine, the family education magazine, October 2012. Read
the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com
or read it on the go and download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to
read the magazine on your mobile devices.
photo credit: roland via photopin ccphoto credit: jazzijava via photopin cc
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