Let’s find out if gummy bear candy grows larger in water with this fun (and yummy) gummy bear experiment. In this experiment, we will see if gummy bears grow in plain water, or in salt water, or not at all. What do you think will happen?
Supplies Needed:
- gummy bear candies
- 2 glasses
- water
- table salt
- ruler (optional)
- pencil/pen
- piece of paper
How To:
Pick 2 different colored gummy bears for this experiment. We picked 1 green one and 1 red gummy bear.
Fill both glasses with enough water to completely cover the gummy bears (and leave some room to grow). We added 3/4 Cup water to each glass. In one of the glasses, add one tablespoon of salt. Stir the salt so that it mixes with the water. Leave the water in the other glass plain.
Drop one gummy bear into each glass. Write down which color gummy bear is the salt water and which color gummy bear is in the plain water.
Ask your child what they think will happen to the gummy bears. Will one or both of them grow? My son guessed that the salt would make the red gummy bear shrink and that the green gummy bear would grow in the plain water.
Wait about 4 hours before taking your gummy bears out of the water. BE CAREFUL when removing them as they can easily fall apart. I fished them out with the tablespoon and carefully wiggled them off the spoon onto the table so that we could measure them.
DO NOT EAT THE GUMMY BEARS FROM THE EXPERIMENT!
RESULTS: One of our gummy bears was larger than the other! Drumroll please. . . the green gummy grew a lot in the plain water and the red gummy bear grew a little bit larger in the salt water. We placed fresh gummy bears from the bag next to the experiment ones for a comparison. OPTIONAL — To introduce rulers and measuring to my son, we did hold up the ruler next to the gummy bears from the bag and the ones from the experiment for him to see the difference in measurements.
More STEM Activities:
Incorporate more STEM activities into your little one’s learning with more fun activities. Check out my STEM Page for more ideas and experiments to try together: https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/stem/
