Praxis: What to do with leftover jelly beans

By Patty Rooks - Praxis on April 27, 2019.

praxis@praxismh.ca@@praxismedhat

What a great week I have had to catch up on things that I have literally been neglecting! It feels great to accomplish my “to-do list.” I hope all of you were able to have a bit of downtime and a chance to celebrate the long weekend with friends and family. I just have one more thing to accomplish – what should I do with all of these jellybeans I have left over? Let’s get started!

Materials

– one bag of jelly beans (assorted colours)

– two measuring cups

– water

– two science helper

– white plate with a bit of lip on it to hold liquid

– stop watch or timer

– science notebook

– pen or pencil

Procedure

1. Separate the jelly beans into colours. Place them in the appropriate piles.

2. Take two plates. Place one colour of jelly beans around the outside of the plate in a nice circle.

3. Place another colour of jellybeans on the other plate.

4. Have one science helper get ready with the timer.

5. Fill each measuring cup with 205 mL (one cup) of tap water.

6. At the same time, carefully pour the water into the centre of the plate(s).

7. Have your science helper start the stop watch.

8. Record the time when the jelly beans start to let their colour bleed into the water.

9. Which colour will begin to dissolve the fastest?

10. Record the information in your science notebook.

11. Test with other colours.

What is going on?

This experiment is not only a great one for all children, but younger children can really help out with this one. Picking up the jelly beans is great practice for those fine motor skills. Not to mention colour sorting with the different colours. What a great opportunity to get the entire family involved!

Extend the learning for the older children. Have them make a hypothesis. Which colour will start to dissolve the fastest and why or because; have them think of a reason why they think that is going to happen.

A bit of science behind this experiment; Jelly beans are coated in food colouring and sugar. When you pour the water into the plate, the coating begins to literally dissolve and start to spread out or diffuse through the water.

Patty Rooks is senior scientific consultant at PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community.” Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook.

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