Ice Cream in a Bag
Supplies, instructions, resources, and worksheets are below!
Ice Cream in a Bag
Project Description
There’s a lot of chemistry that goes into making ice cream. Mixture of ingredients, temperature, and stages of matter take part in the process of making ice cream. In this STEM project, you lean how ingredients can effect the process.
Activity Time
1 days
Supplies Recommended
Investigative Worksheet
Measuring spoons
Measuring cups
Sugar
Half and half
Vanilla extract
Salt
Ice cubes (about 8 cups)
2 Sandwich sized zip lock bags
2 Gallon sized zip lock bags
Oven mitts
Timer or clock
Learning Objectives
Understand how ingredients can change when they are mixed
Understand the stages of matter
Understand basic measuring
Vocabulary Terms to Understand
Look up each word and write their definition on paper.
temperature
melting point
solid
liquid
matter
freezing point
celsius
molecules
energy
sodium
Instructional Video:
Instructions
1. Print the Investigative Worksheet.
2. In each small zip lock bag, put one table spoon of sugar, 1/2 cup of half and half (or milk or heavy whipping cream), 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Seal up both bags.
3. Add four cups of ice cubes to one of the gallon-sized zip lock bags along with 1/2 cup of salt.
4. Put one of the small zip lock bags with your ice cream ingredients inside of the gallon-sized back. Make sure both the small and gallon-sized bags are sealed shut.
5. Put on your oven mitts and start shaking the bags for about 5 minutes.
6. How long does it take for the ingredients to change and turn into ice cream?
6. Use the Investigative Worksheet to document your process and record your findings.
7. Now, add your second small back of ice cream ingredients to your second gallon-sized bag filled with ice cubes, only this time do not add the salt.
8. Put on your oven mitts and start shaking again for about 5 minutes. What happened this time? Record your finding on your Investigative Worksheet.
Questions
What happens to the ingredients when they are mixed?
What does the salt do?
What degrees does pure water freeze at compared to water mixed with salt?
More Resources
Chem4Kids: States of Matter
Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Ducksters: Melting & Boiling
Ice Cream Recipes
