Christmas Candy Chemistry Science Experiments

Everywhere you go during the holidays, you see candy! Candy canes, chocolates, peppermints, dreams of sugar plum fairies :)  How about using all that candy for a little bit of learning?  Specifically some Christmas Candy Chemistry Science Experiments.  It’s another project where STEM gets delicious! 

Christmas Candy Chemistry Experiments

There are a bunch of fun ways you can learn with candy this December.  We’ll start by exploring states of matter, one of the most fundamental parts of science and Christmas candy chemistry. We’re exploring melting points by making Peppermint Ornaments (or maybe I should just call them Ornamints!) by melting candy in the oven. It’s cool to watch how candy can go from solid to liquid to solid again with just some heat.

You’ll need the following supplies:

• Oven
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Metal cookie cutters
• Non-stick spray
• Star mint candy

Here are the easy steps (my preschooler did almost every step, except the oven, by herself!):

1. Preheat oven to 350 ºF.
2. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pick your cookie cutters and spray with non-stick spray and place on cookie sheet.
3. Fill cookie cutters with candies (they don’t have to be totally full).

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes but watch carefully because timing depends upon the cutters you are using.
5. Let cool for a couple of minutes and punch hole for hanging with a bamboo skewer.  Once cooled completely, remove from cutters, add ribbon or twine and hang!

Chocolate States of Matter

You can also teach the kiddos about melting points while making a batch of delicious chocolate holiday bark. I love this super-loaded Christmas Bark (from Averie Cooks) for an over-the-top candy that is super-fun for kids.

 

Dissolving Candy Canes || Lemon Lime Adventures

Explore solubility with this festive dissolving candy cane experiment.

Candy Cane Oobleck || The Chaos and the Clutter

Feel science with a non-Newtonian fluid (It’s a solid! It’s a liquid!) when you make this minty fresh goop.

 

Chocolate Truffle Experiments || Relish

This science experiment may be more for the grown-ups…  Explore how different ingredients change your decadent holiday chocolate truffles.

Bend Candy Canes || The Artful Parent

I love these creative candy cane sculptures where science helps you change the candy cane’s form.

Mint Fireworks:

Next time you’re in the dollar store, grab an extra bag of star mints for a colorful experiment or use the leftovers from your Ornamints. You’ll also need a shallow plate and some water.

The Science of Candy Fireworks

The melting stripes of a star mint make a gorgeous pattern. Candy such as star mints, Skittles & M&M’s contains artificial colors called dyes that are easily dissolvable in water. As the dyes move into the water, they diffuse across the plate. The dye molecules want to travel to areas of lower concentration of dye from areas where there is a lot of dye. Eventually, the colors reach equilibrium, where all the areas have equal concentrations of dye.

Mint Fireworks Experiment Instructions:

1. Arrange the candies in a circle around the outside of the plate.
2. Pour a small amount of water into the center of the plate. Use enough that all of the candies get wet on the bottom.
3. Watch the color patterns form!
4. Repeat with another pattern of candy. How did the colors change?

 

Christmas Science that Keeps on Giving Long After Christmas

Whip up a batch of amazing Peppermint Marshmallows to learn about candy science. You’ll want to add these to your holiday making every year they’re so delicious! 

This recipe is part of our latest issue of STEAM Explorers, the Christmas edition…

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that you can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Explorers!! The coolest creative experience for kids is here! It's a digital book of the month club filled with tons of fun stuff for the kids to do and learn. All engineer, teacher, and mom-approved. And most definitely KID APPROVED!⁣

What’s included?⁣

• A monthly digital magazine with cool themes that are fun to read
• Hands-on, exciting projects the kids will love.⁣
• Science, tech, engineering, art, and math learning YOU’LL love.⁣
• Delicious recipes the kids can make.⁣
• Fun printables and games⁣

Get ready to have fun with hands-on STEAM that’s a feast for all your senses! The kids will love trying food that tickles their taste buds, making art with texture, fooling their eyes with optical illusions, sewing soft stuffies that glow, and so much more!

We’ve split the issue into four weekly themes:

• WEEK 1: SEE STEAM
• WEEK 2: SMELL STEAM
• WEEK 3: FEEL STEAM
• WEEK 4: HEAR STEAM
• PLUS... TASTE STEAM ALL MONTH LONG!

Christmas Candy Books

We love combining storytime with our science.  Here are a few fun Christmas candy books to read. Please note, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Katie the Candy Cane Fairy {affiliate} – This is another lost stripe adventure with Katie using her creative magic to save the show.  From the makers of Camilla the Cupcake Fairy (one of my daughter’s favorites!).

I Spy a Candy Cane {affiliate} – Kiddos love eye spy games! Here’s a whole book of festive-themed finds.

Even More Christmas STEAM Activities

STE(A)M’s our game here at Left Brain Craft Brain, so we’ve got lots of holiday invitations to learn.  Check out Christmas Tree STEM.

Christmas Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math Fun for Kids

Looking for some more holiday STEAM inspiration that use can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Kids Christmas EBook! It’s packed with 25 days of festive projects (plus an adorable printable advent calendar!) that will wow the boredom right out of your kids.