Lollipop Lab~Dissolving Science Experiment for Kids

We love simple science experiments. Whether they are a planned part of our school time or a spontaneous activity to break up the day, the girls always get engaged and enjoy making new discoveries. Today I am starting a three part series about a recent set of investigations the girls did using lollipops. We started by experimenting to see what would happen if we put lollipops in water.

If you’ve been following Fantastic Fun and Learning for a while you might remember we’ve previously shared this experiment with marshmallows and candy hearts. It’s great for kids to repeat activities over time. It allows them to compare and contrast different results and build new connections to prior knowledge.

Materials for Science Experiment

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• Lollipops in assorted colors~We used Dum Dums.
• Warm water~We added ours to an easy pour container so the kids could add as little or as much water to their containers as they liked.
• Small dishes~We used various sizes. I tried to use all clear so the kids could easily see and compare the different colors made.

The girls started by sorting their lollipops by the colors on the wrappers. I sat back and watched as they worked together to figure out how many piles they needed and which lollipops needed to go in which group.

I was secretly thrilled when they decided later that they wanted to divide the groups by flavor, too. This allowed them practice sorting by two attributes instead of one.

They also chose to set aside flavors they didn’t like and the “mystery” lollipops.

Next they added warm water to their containers.

Because there were multiple flavors of each color they then had to decide what to do with each group. Would they put ALL the red lollipops in one container? Would they separate them by flavor?

They decided to choose different flavors. When they got to the red lollipops, one child took all the watermelon. The other took all the strawberry. One they got to blue, one child took all the blue raspberry and the other took all the cotton candy. It worked out well overall, and I was very impressed by their planning and discussions throughout the process.

As they added to lollipops to their containers, they were excited to see the water quickly changing color as they expected.

After waiting just a bit longer they noticed that all of the lollipops had dissolved completely.

We were left with some very vibrant liquids that inspired a few more investigations. See what else we did with the liquids in Part 2 and Part 3 of this science experiment.

You can also check out our other science experiments related to dissolving.

More Fun with Dissolving Science Experiments

Marshmallow Color Change Science Experiment

Comparing Liquids Marshmallow Experiment

Candy Heart Science Experiment

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