Christmas Mixtures and Play Dough

Our countdown to Christmas continues for day 21 of Advent. I’m sharing a Christmas science idea with you at the beginning of each day until Christmas. Day 21’s activity is Christmas Mixtures and Play Dough. 

Christmas Mixtures and Play Dough 

In our A to Z Science series for toddlers and preschoolers, M is for Mixtures. We explored experiments with oil and water and making emulsions. For today’s mixture exploration, I set up an invitation with ingredients you might find in a Christmas cookie. I let Aiden create his own mixture with the ingredients.

Here’s what we used:

• flour
• sugar
• cocoa
• baking soda
• canola oil
• orange juice
• water

Aiden started with the sugar adding a 1/2 teaspoon at a time. {I love that he was practicing measuring.} Then, he asked if he could add all of the sugar. My answer, of course, was yes. Next, he added cocoa and stirred. We had a mixture. Aiden added orange juice and oil and baking soda. The baking soda reacted with the orange juice and produced some bubbles. {Check out more baking soda experiment ideas.}

Aiden added water and flour and stirred again. I took a moment to talk to him about liquids and solids. We talked about how liquids take the shape of their container, but solids don’t. Solids keep their shape. We used 3 liquids {water, orange juice, and oil} and 4 solids {flour, sugar, baking soda, and cocoa}. Currently, we had a liquid mixture. It flowed easily around in the container. I asked Aiden if he liked his liquid mixture or if he wanted to turn it into a solid. He wanted a solid. We discussed which ingredients he could use to create a solid. He chose to add more flour. He added so much flour that he created a dough.

The play dough turned out pretty well. It was soft and squishy and not sticky. Aiden made a handprint.

Made cupcakes.

And made a cake complete with a candle.

What kind of mixture will you create with Christmas ingredients?

I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 22’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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