Christmas Science Experiments: Hot Chocolate

Winter is the perfect time for fun science in the classroom! This year try one of my favorite Christmas science experiments with hot chocolate. You’ll need just a couple simple materials and your students will LOVE it!

Since it is only twenty degrees outside today, I thought it would be the perfect time to make some hot chocolate. The directions on the package said to make it with water or milk. My oldest son wanted to use water and my youngest wanted to use milk. I thought it would be fun to turn this into a Hot Chocolate science experiment and test if marshmallows melt faster in water or milk.

Materials Needed For The Christmas Science Experiments: Hot Chocolate:

• Mugs
• Water
• Milk
• Hot Chocolate Mix
• Spoon
• Thermometer
• Marshmallows
• Timer

Doing The Christmas Science Experiments: Hot Chocolate:

To begin this experiment, the children will pour 6 ounces of water into one mug and 6 ounces of milk into the other one.

Next, an adult will microwave the mugs for one and half minutes or until the water and milk are hot.

After an adult takes the mugs out of the microwave, (Be careful! The mugs will be hot) the children will add one envelope of hot chocolate mix to each mug and stir until it is completely dissolved.

Next, the children will measure the temperature of each mug and record the data. We found that the hot chocolate made with water was 40 degrees hotter then the one made with milk.

Then, the children will place the same number of marshmallows in each mug and start the time. After set time intervals, they can record the results. After one minute, the marshmallows in the hot chocolate made with water were completely dissolved. It took six minutes before the marshmallows in the hot chocolate made with milk were dissolved.

Science Behind The Christmas Science Experiments: Hot Chocolate:

After the milk and water were microwaved, the water was a lot hotter than the milk. The marshmallows melted and dissolved faster in the water because it was over 40 degrees hotter than the milk. Marshmallows are mainly made of sugar and sugar dissolves in liquid so the hotter liquid made the sugar dissolve faster.

One things that I love about this Christmas Science Experiments: Hot Chocolate is that there are so many variables to test. From the temperature  to different liquids uses, you can try this fun learning activity over and over.

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