Activity Overview
Satisfy your sweet tooth with this fun end delicious food science experiment which explores states of matter. Chocolate is made up of many small particles, which remain in a solid state at room temperature. As the chocolate is heated, the particles spread out and become a fluid, more liquid form which can be poured into molds and reformed. When the chocolate is placed into a freezer, it cools and is forced back into its original solid state.
While we were experimenting with the states of matter of chocolate, we added a twist to our food science activity and used candy molds, lollipop sticks and pretzel sticks to make our own chocolate pops and chocolate covered pretzels. They were a big hit and the kids had a lot of fun making them and consuming them.
Materials Needed
- melting chocolate pieces
- microwave safe bowl
- spoon
- candy molds ( optional) If not using candy molds, you can use a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet
- freezer
How to Do It
- Pour your melted chocolate pieces into a bowl.
- Place in the microwave on medium heat for 30 second increments until the chocolate pieces start to soften. Stir until all pieces are melted. It took us a minute and a half for the the chocolate to melt.
- When the chocolate is indeed in liquid form, carefully remove it from the microwave and pour spoonfuls of chocolate into the candy molds. If you do not have candy molds, you can lay a piece of parchment paper onto a baking sheet and drop rounded spoonfuls of chocolate onto the tray.
- Place the tray of chocolate into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and pop the candy out of the molds or pull them off of the parchment paper and enjoy!
