Gumdrops Ornaments Made with Christmas Science Experiment

Use Christmas Science to make these beautiful Christmas Ornaments to learn while decorating your tree! This Christmas Science Experiment is lots of fun for toddler, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade students. You only need a few simple materials to try this Christmas learning activity to make your holiday season extra special this December. Kids of all ages will be delighted to try to make a gumdrop Christmas tree STEM activity.

Christmas Science Experiment

One of my absolute favorite things to do during the Christmas season is make ornaments with my daughter. I know many people love their magazine perfect Christmas tree, but I like sprinkling homemade ornaments on ours! Those ornaments are filled with memories and fuzzy good feelings of spending time with my daughter! This Gumdrop Ornament is not one like what we usually make, but it is on less fun! It was actually really cool to watch. 

Gumdrop ornaments

• Gumdrops
• Christmas Tree Cookie Cutter (heat safe)
• Crisco / Cooking Spray
• Parchment Paper
• Cookie Sheet
• Oven Preheated @ 350 F

Gumdrop Activities

We started this science experiment out with a Christmas tree cookie cutter. It needs to be metal, and heat safe. Spray the inside of the cookie cutter with cooking spray or spread Crisco on to the inside.

Put a piece of parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and place your cookie cutter(s) on it. Add in one layer of gumdrops to fill the cookie cutter. We had to squeeze some of the gumdrops into the corners, but it worked.

At this point, ask children what do you think will happen when we put it in the oven? Will it change colors? Will it get big and puffy? Will it melt? Will it turn hard? Once they’ve made their hypothesis it is time to try the experiment.

Christmas Science Activity

Pop the cookie sheet into the preheated oven. We left it in for 20 minutes. I was hoping that it wasn’t going to completely melt and ooze all over, which it didn’t! I was surprised, honestly.

While it was in the oven, we talked about how heat works on food or solid objects like gumdrops. We discussed solids versus liquid and gas. We can to the determination that a gum drop is more of a solid than anything else. When we checked on the gum drops the first time, though, we poked one with a butter knife. It was softer than it was before. We put it back in for longer. 

When we finally took it out for good the gum drops were almost a playdough consistency. Obviously they were too hot to touch but if it weren’t for the heat, you could probably mold it just like playdough. We did use the butter knife to squish some of the gum drops closer together so they would hopefully stay in place, connected to the rest. This worked! 

Christmas Science

We let the Gumdrop Christmas Tree cool for a little bit and then took the cookie cutter off. The sticky didn’t ruin the cookie cutter either, I was nervous about that!  There are holes in between some of the gumdrops that can be used to put a string through and make an ornament. How fun is this?? 

Like everything around us, candy is made up of molecules. The individual molecules of candies are packed so tightly together that they can’t move. That’s why they’re solid. When the candy molecules are warmed in the oven however, they start moving around, making the candy melt into more of a liquid. The temperature where solids melt is called its melting point. At this point the gumdrops are a playdough consistency and ooze together. When the gumdrops cool once again they again take on a solid shape.

It is easy to explore candy science, because it is candy!  We used the scientific method to help our exploration process! 

 

Christmas Science Experiments for Kids

Looking for more fun Christmas science ideas? Check these out!

• Fizzy Ornaments Christmas Science Experiments
• Spinning Christmas Tree Christmas Science Experiments
• Magic Melting Peppermint Candy Christmas Science Experiment
• Fizzy Gingerbread Man Christmas Science Experiment
• Lots of Christmas Science Experiments Kids will love!
• Beautiful Borax Crystal Christmas Tree Science Experiment
• Melting Christmas Tree Science Experiment for December
• Ornaments-Go-Round Christmas STEM
• Rudolph Christmas Science Experiments
• Christmas Magic Milk Experiment
• Gumdrops Ornaments Made with Christmas Science Experiment
• Gingerbread Puffy Paint Recipe
• Christmas Fluffy Slime Recipe
• Easy Candy Cane Science Experiment
• Simple Oil and Water Christmas Science Experiment
• Frost in a Can Winter Science Experiment
• Snow Volcano Science Experiment

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