Christmas Science Practical!
What a wonderful time of year it is for everyone to come together in the lab and enjoy each other’s company while completing a festive practical!
Over the past week, every pupil from Year 3 to 6 has had fun making expertly weighed out Reindeer Food, with lots of vermicelli cake sprinkles in green, red, chocolate and multicolours and oats.
In total 188 recipe colouring cards, 18 kilos of oats, 8 kilos of sprinkles and decorations, 8 boxes of rice paper snowflakes and 100m of tying ribbon served to make a Christmas treat for over 180 children and the reindeer that are due to visit their homes in under 2 weeks’ time!
Scatter these oats on a crisp winter night,
To fill every heart with warm Christmas delight.
Rudolph will nibble, the birds will come too
A moment of wonder to share with you.
Or keep it indoors for a breakfast so bright,
A bowl full of joy in a festive morning light.
With gratitude, excitement, and merry cheer,
It’s a treat to enjoy at this special time of year!
There are some options of who will enjoy the festive treat! You can either feed the Reindeer on Christmas Eve by sprinkling on the lawn, or you can share it with the birds and other garden visitors who will appreciate the surprise…Or you can do with many children have already done and turn it into porridge or overnight oats.
If you would like to make a special Christmas or Winter Breakfast mix, follow these instructions as a guide:
Use around twice as much liquid as oat mix. You can use: water, milk, milk substitute (oat, almond, soya, etc.), coconut water
Following your usual personal allergy/dietary guidelines, you can add extra goodness to this mix to make it even more delightful. Why not try… fresh fruit (berries, banana, apple, pear), dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots), nuts or seeds (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds), a sprinkle of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, clove or ginger
You can warm it gently on the hob or in the microwave for a cosy bowl or prepare overnight and chill in the fridge for festive overnight oats – or you can add more oats to make the start of flapjack too.
The children were involved in learning about :
accurate weighing
adding
subtracting
learning the difference between weight and mass
food chains and webs
chemical and physical reactions
making mixtures
Method if you would like to try something similar at home
Take a sandwich bag, open it and roll the edges down a bit like an open bowl
Put this onto the scales and ‘tare’ to 0g
Using a large spoon, fill a cup to transfer oats to the bag, we added exactly 80g of oats into the bag (you could do any amount)
Using a teaspoon, fill a small paper cup (or eggcup) to transfer exactly 5g of red, green and chocolate coloured sugar strands one colour at a time. Now add exactly 5g of mixed colour strands. Give the bag and give it a little massage mix
Add 1 snowflake to the side or top of your bag so you can see it
Tie up the bag with some curling ribbon and attach your recipe card!
Many children have already sent photographs to Mrs Hills-Matthews showing their festive food – some even had it for tea the night they made it in school! Please do send in your photos to share.
Many thanks to all the busy hands this week to make as many treats as possible. Huge thanks must also go to the fantastic housekeeping team whose vacuums have been kept incredibly busy, colourfully heaving with sprinkles and oats, over the past few days!
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