Snackable Science Crafts
Next Story
Science Experiments You Can Eat
What better way to teach your kids about the earth than by snacking your way through these fun projects! Bonus: Each edible craft includes learning points so that you can teach as you create.
Reprinted with permission from Snackable Science Experiments by Emma Vanstone, Page Street Publishing Co. 2019. Photo credit: Charlotte Dart
Ice Cubes in a Flash
Isn’t it frustrating when you want a chilled drink but don’t have any ice on hand? But did you know you can make ice cubes quickly using hot water? It’s not instantaneous, but it’s worth a go just to see if it works for you!
Boiled water also gives you a transparent ice cube instead of the cloudy ice you get with tap water.
Ingredients
Water
Supplies
Kettle, Ice cube tray
Directions
1. Bring a kettle of water to a boil, then remove it from the heat and leave it to cool for about 30 minutes.
2. Fill half the ice cube tray with cold water and half with the hot water from the kettle.
3. Place the ice cube tray in the freezer and check every 30 minutes to see if the ice is frozen.
Learning Points
• The phenomenon of hot water freezing faster than cold water is called the Mpemba effect.
• Ice made from tap water looks cloudy because there is air trapped in the water. Boiling the water removes any air dissolved in the water to give clear ice cubes.
More fun!
Use the hot-water technique to make multicolored icecubes quickly— you can either add food coloring, heat up juice or use colored herbal teas.
Cake Soil Layers
When you think of soil, you probably think of the layer of mud where you plant flowers and where worms and other animals live. Did you know there are several layers of soil, and soil is not just mud or dirt but a mixture of decayed plants and animals, minerals and small pieces of rock?
This activity uses different types of cake to model the layers that make up soil. You can bake the cakes yourself or use store-bought varieties.
Ingredients
Different types of cake, Green icing, Ready-to-roll brown fondant icing (optional), Gummy worms
Supplies
Icing bag, Rolling pin
Directions
1. To make a cake model of soil layers, you need to think about the look and texture of each layer and build from the bottom layer upward.
2. How about a nutty granola bar for the bedrock layer, followed by a nutty cake for the parent layer?
3. The subsoil layer needs to have fewer rocks and needs to be a lighter color than the topsoil.
4. Once you’ve built up the layers of cake, use an icing bag to pipe green icing onto the top to represent grass and leaves.
5. With a rolling pin, roll the brown fondant icing into a long, thin shape and use this to model sticks and roots in the cake. Place gummy worms among the sticks and roots.
Learning Points
• Soil plays a huge role in supporting life on our planet. Plants not only grow and support themselves in soil but also absorb nutrients to grow using their roots.
• Many small organisms live in soil, such as earthworms, ants, beetles and flies.
• Soil also affects our atmosphere by releasing carbon dioxide.
• Did you know that in just 1 teaspoon of soil there can be several hundred million bacteria?
More fun!
Organic Layer: a thick layer of plant remains, such as leaves and twigs
Topsoil: a thin layer 5- to 10-inches thick, organic matter and minerals
Subsoil: clay, iron and organic matter
Parent material: upper layers develop from this later; it’s mostly made up of large rocks
Bedrock: a thick layer of plant remains, such as leaves and twigs
Superhero- Egg Cress Heads
You probably know that plants need sunlight, water, nutrients and the right temperature to grow. But did you know that plants can grow without soil? You can test this out by growing a cress head. Like humans, plants need water to stay hydrated. Have you ever noticed that a plant low on water starts to droop?
Ingredients
2 eggs, Cress seeds
Supplies
Knife, Egg holder, Markers for decoration, Cotton balls
1. Boil the eggs until they are hard-boiled, about 6 minutes, and leave them to cool. Carefully slice off the tops of the eggs, remove all the egg whites and yolks and rinse out the shells. Put the shells in the egg holder.
2. Using markers, decorate your eggshells to look like superheroes. Dampen a cotton ball and place it inside the eggshell.
3. Place 10 to 15 cress seeds on the cotton wool and put the superhero egg in a sunny spot.
4. Once the leaves on the cress turn green, you can eat them.
Learning Points
• Plants need sunlight for a process called photosynthesis, which requires energy in the form of light to convert carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrates for growth.
• Warmer temperatures encourage plants to germinate and grow, while in colder temperatures growth slows down or even stops.
• Soil contains all the nutrients a plant needs to grow, but it’s the nutrients the plant needs, not the soil itself.
• Hydroponics is when plants are grown in water that contains the nutrients it needs rather than soil. Hydroponics is a very useful growing method in areas where there isn’t much good soil or where space is limited.
More fun!
Place plastic cups over the eggshells to act like a greenhouse. Design an investigation to discover whether the cress grows better with or without the greenhouse.
