Put Halloween candy to use — in science experiments
Having fun with candy experiments.
Melissa Boehling | Contributor
Many of us have more candy then needed after Halloween and are always looking for more creative ideas of what to do with it.
Recently reading the Monroe Evening News, I found a new suggestion I hadn’t heard before. There is a full website dedicated to candy experiments at http://www.candyexperiments.com.
My kids and I tried a few different ones. We also found we could do quicker experiments while waiting on the results of more involved ones, although, honestly, not too many of them took more than a few minutes. It was a great way to make learning time fun and yummy.
Floating Letters
Melissa Boehling | Contributor
Floating S’s and M’s
This one tickled both my son and my daughter who is 4. Just get a container of water and throw in a few Skittles or M&Ms. Wait a matter of a minute or two and — tada! — Ms and Ss are floating to the surface. The website explains more about why this happens.
Acidity Test
Now, to warn you: This one took longer, so we did some others while waiting for the candy to dissolve. Additionally, the “bubbles” were a bit of let down after the longer wait.
Float/Sink Test
We used four different kinds of chocolate. I know some parents may think that is just a sin since it's chocolate, but it’s okay — we have plenty left.
Here were our results:
1) Kit Kat: floats
2) Baby Ruth: sank
3) Three Musketeers: floats (Their commercial about the candy being so light doesn’t seem so far off base now.)
4) Peanut M&M: sank
Can you believe that much oil was in a Starburst candy?
Melissa Boehling | Contributor
Oil Test
This one was pretty neat as far as showing what is in a candy other than the sugar kids hear about all the time. You may need less time in the microwave than the directions indicate; we found it almost burned with a full minute in ours.
We’d love to hear if you try some of these and how they worked for you.
Melissa Boehling is owner and primary provider for Starry Night Child Care, IT consultant as well a mother of a 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. She also loves to help her children eat their candy so will continue to find ways to get rid of it faster from other suggestions such as donating it in hopes of keeping her teeth and body from getting too full of sugar.
Comments
Melissa Boehling
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 : 11:02 a.m.
@jns131 - That's a great idea. Teachers always love getting new ideas as well if we can help supply the items they need it's an extra bonus.
jns131
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 : 9:46 a.m.
I am not surprised by the oil in most candies. Although this article was fun to read. Might send this one on to our child's science teacher. Give everyone a chance to do something with all that candy.
Melissa Boehling
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 : 8:40 a.m.
@Ava - I hope you and the kids enjoy trying them out as much as we did. You can get through a decent amount of candy trying them out but if you're like us you'll still most likely have plenty to do the buy back too. So the kids can get some sciene and some fun or saving money depending on how you handle kids and money in your home. =)
Eva Johnson
Thu, Nov 11, 2010 : 10:39 p.m.
I love this idea! I was going to try to buy back the candy, but this sounds educational and fun. Thanks!
Melissa Boehling
Thu, Nov 11, 2010 : 8:55 a.m.
Your welcome Tammy. Those mice can be sneaky. However the sink/float can be done with other types of candy that may not be as mom...I mean mouse desirable.
Tammy Mayrend
Thu, Nov 11, 2010 : 8:45 a.m.
Thanks for the website, might just have to check that out. Although all of our chocolate is gone. Must have been some mice in the house... Or mom.