Candy Cane Science Experiment

Our countdown to Christmas continues for day 11 of Advent. I’m sharing a Christmas science idea with you at the beginning of each day until Christmas. Day 11’s activity is a Candy Cane Science Experiment.

This past Valentine’s Day, we conducted several science experiments with Valentine hearts. I decided we could repeat our dissolving hearts experiment with candy canes. We compared how fast candy canes dissolved in different temperatures of water.

Here’s what you’ll need:

mini candy canes
containers {we used small glass bowls}
water of various temperatures
stopwatch/clock

Procedure:

Add water to each of your containers at different temperatures. We used a 1/2 cup of water for each of our 3 temperatures {35°F, 70°F, and 120°F}.
Make a prediction. Which temperature will dissolve the candy cane the fastest? Any ideas why?
Add a mini candy cane to each of the containers.
Start your stopwatch and/or record the start time.
Observe what happens.
Check your experiment every so often and note any changes.
Record the amount of time it takes for each candy cane to dissolve. {Use this handy Candy Cane Science Experiment data table.}

Our Observations

As soon as we placed the candy canes in water, the water began to turn pink. The warm water was the brightest color followed by the room temperature water. The cold water had just a faint pink at the start.

We saw bubbles rising from the the candy canes. They began to dissolve. The red stripe was first to dissolve off of the candy cane in the warm water.

The candy canes all eventually dissolved at different times. After 3 and half minutes, the red stripe dissolved from the candy cane in the warm water. It took 7 minutes for the red stripe to disappear from the candy cane in the room temperature water. It took 12 minutes for the red stripe to disappear from the candy cane in the cold water. After 23 minutes, the candy cane in the warm water was completely dissolved. It took 40 minutes and 58 minutes respectively for the candy canes in the room temperature and cold water to completely dissolve.

As expected, our temperatures were not constant throughout the experiment. The cold water started at 35°F but rose to 54°F after 40 minutes. The warm water started at 120°F and dropped to 79°F after 40 minutes. The room temperature water fluctuated between 69-70°F throughout the experiment.

Other Candy Cane Science Ideas

Check out our collection of 12 candy cane science experiments.
A Mom With A Lesson Plan did a Christmas science experiment with large candy canes.
Preschool Powol Packets experiments with bending candy canes.
Gift of Curiosity compared how candy canes dissolved in different liquids.

Have you experimented with candy canes? Leave a comment and I’ll check it out. Better yet link it up to our Christmas science challenge.

I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 12’s Christmas science activity.

More Christmas Activities for Kids

Catch all of our Christmas Science Advent Calendar ideas.
Explore pine needles and Christmas trees and take our Christmas science challenge.
Turn your child’s art into a great Christmas project with these 15 Christmas ideas with children’s art.
Check out all of our Christmas ideas.

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