Halloween Candy - Experiments & Operation Shoebox

My son (aka Superman) had a blast collecting candy on Halloween night. It was his first time trick or treating and he was ready to collect a lot of treats! I knew I didn't want him to eat it all, so after he picked out a few favorites, we decided to use some for some science fun!

I hit the Pinterest boards and came across some fun ideas. I wanted to complete a sink or float candy bar activity, and loved this data collection sheet that was featured over at Reading Confetti, so I re-created it. We had a different selection of candy bars, so we worked with what we had. Our son made his predictions and then completed the activity. He was having a difficult time because he thought that since his predictions differed from his results, he was completing the activity all "wrong." We talked about predictions and why it's OK if they don't match the results. I made sure to remind him about the weather forecasters. ;)  It was a great lesson on Science Inquiry. We kept the wrappers and stapled them onto the organizer.  Afterward he was sure to touch the candy bars and see how they felt after being in the water. Fun exploration.

After this fun activity, we headed back to the pile of candy and decided to experiment with Skittles! First we placed them on a microwave safe plate and cooked them on high for 1 minute. The results were messy, and smelly. He was not a fan of the smell.

 We cooked them much too long and this was the result. Within seconds of coming out of the microwave this mess turned very hard and was almost impossible to scrape off of the plate.

We decided to try again, this time for 30 seconds.

 We used fewer Skittles, and the results were as seen below. They opened up like little clams and the insides melted. Again, the smell was more than our boy could handle. There was a lot of nose holding.

After that we decided to see if we could get the "S" to float off of the Skittles using warm water. It didn't go quite as planned but we did see them break into mini pieces and float above the skittles, although they did not remain in the form of an "S."

 

After these two activities with Skittles, our five year old vowed he would never eat them again. Science + a vow to eat less candy = Win for Mom! 

We have plenty of candy left and more experiments in the works!  If Science and playing with candy isn't your thing- try donating your child's leftover candy to the troops! 

Mail your candy donation to:

Operation Shoebox

8360 East Highway 25

Belleview. Fl. 34420