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This past week, we experimented with some peeps in the kitchen! Many of the experiment ideas, I was able to find by just searching the internet, but we also improvised. In the cases where I followed experiments exactly, I included their links for reference to ingredients and recipes.
Young children love experimenting… their entire day truly is just experimentation – so less structure is better and it’s more fun when introducing new concepts to them. We usually do the experiment together (it must be short for attention span) and then I give them plenty of time to explore and test on their own with whatever is left.
Peep ‘Slime’: (We followed the recipe listed on Little Bins for Little Hands.)
This experiment didn’t turn out like slime… I would consider the texture to be more like taffy. It even tasted a little like taffy! (This might have happened because we had one less peep than the recipe calls for…) But it was fun for the kids to watch what happens to peeps in the microwave and also mix all the ingredients together to see the texture of the peep change. They played with it a little but both were more interested in tasting it.
Sinking Peeps:
A few weeks ago we tested out various fruits and vegetables in water to see if they would sink or float (see my link on instagram with photos here or purchase the book ‘Awesome Science Experiments for Kids’ with the instructions here). So when I told them we would be doing the same thing with a peeps, they were very excited!
I asked them to form a hypothesis – if the peep would sink or float and why. We all seemed to agree that the peep would float because it had air pockets – similar to the fruits and vegetables that we tried. We tested the hypothesis to see if we were correct and we were.
I then allowed them to try sinking the peep. So they dunked it and pulled it apart… I would say they got a little crazy at this point and the peeps turned into chunks of white on top and powdery colored water. They threw the peep slime in the bowl and it sank! My four year old pointed out that the corn starch eliminated the air pockets which caused it to sink.
Dissolving Peeps:
Lastly, we decided to dissolve a peep. I personally selected white vinegar because it was an ingredient we would soon we using in egg coloring. I also assumed that if any liquid would dissolve a peep from our kitchen it would be that one. You could also try oil, water or any other liquids in your kitchen.
We formed a hypothesis again. My four year old thought that the white vinegar would dissolve the peep. I told her that I did NOT think that it would dissolve the peep. We put the peeps in the white vinegar solution and observed them for several days. Initially, within the first hour, the white vinegar turned a yellow color from the sugar dissolving away on the bottom of the peeps but the peep itself didn’t dissolve.
My four year thought I had won, but we decided to wait a few more days to see what might happen. Over the course of those days, the peeps did in fact begin dissolving in the white vinegar slowly. The peeps became smaller, began tearing when I picked them up and they were also sinking. My four year old was so excited that her hypothesis was correct. This was a great way to teach her that sometimes your tests have to take longer than you expect them to in order to get a desired result.
Let me know if you try any of these experiments at home! I’d love to hear and see your results! You can contact me on social media or at momgineeringthefuture@gmail.com.
