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Saturday, October 20, 2012

M&M and Skittles...experiment

Candy Experiments


Last fall I stumbled across a great website devoted to Candy Experiments.  This website has the motherload of great experiments using candy.  Many of them have links to a YouTube video that shows how to do it, too.  I have emailed the webmaster and asked permission to use their experiments and create some follow up sheets for the classroom.  I can't wait to use them in my classroom!

What happens when you put Skittles or M&M's in water? Do they float or sink??  This one is a very easy and inexpensive one.  Have students bring in left over Halloween Candy or buy it on sale. 

All you need to do is drop the candy in the water and watch what happens....

The white letters on M&Ms and Skittles are printed with edible ink that doesn't dissolve in water. When the rest of the candy shell dissolves, the letters peel off and float. Some of the letters break into pieces, but a few should survive intact.

It's pretty cool to see the floating letters in the water.  I recommend this for older kids  because they need to be patient to see the actual letters...and close observation too.



 
To grab your FREE follow up worksheet click here!
 
 

 

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link, Leslie! That website looks amazing.

    Teacher Kirra:Maestra Kirra

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  2. You can also do this experiment with very young children if you give them something else to do while they're waiting. Here's an idea: prepare the floating letter experiment by placing the candy in the water. Set it aside (don't let the kids stir it!). While you're waiting for the letters to float, give the kids some more colored candies to dissolve in water to see what colors they can make. In a few minutes, check your floating letters experiment to see what happened.

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  3. I am going to show this to my five yr old grandson, i am sure he will want to bring this to his pre school class and be a scientist.for a day, there must be a scientific reason why the colors dont mix please advise, thank u so much for your site diane

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  4. my teacher did this expirement

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