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October 28, 2013

Candy Science for Kids: M&M Experiment

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Candy is everywhere this week so we wanted to use it for some after school learning!  We did another dissolving science experiment, but this time the goal was to dissolve the M off of an M&M.

Have you tried this one before? It is really cool!

Candy Science for Kids! How to dissolve the M off an M&M. Great for all that Halloween candy!

M&M Candy Experiment Supplies:

  • M&Ms
  • Bowl of water

That’s it!  Put a couple M&Ms in the water with the M side up and observe what happens.

Dissolve the M off and M&M candy experiment!

We talked about how the coating on the M&M was made of colored sugar that dissolves easily in water.  It was very interesting to see which colors started to dissolve and spread first.

Dissolving M&M Candy Science Experiment

The M from the orange candy was the first to float up!

Floating Ms! Dissolve the M off an M&M science experiment!

Isn’t it cool to see all the Ms floating around?  If you touch them they will stick to you finger perfectly intact.  The M is made out of more than just sugar so it doesn’t dissolve as quickly.  This is a fun science activity to do with kids of all ages so makes a perfect after school activity that the whole family can enjoy!

I shared this activity on the Spooky Candy Science Hangout with Inspiration Laboratories!  Check out the other fun ideas shared in her Creepy Crawlies & Candy Science post.  I also loved the Candy Activities for Kids series on Learn Play Imagine.

More Candy Activities:

  • Exploring Candy from Gift of Curiosity (she did this science activity with her preschoolers but school age kids would like it too!)
  • Pop Rocks Candy Apples from B-Inspired Mama
  • Candy Corn Math from Mess for Less (this is a great one for Kindergarten, you could add the pumpkins together to extend the learning with school age kids)
  • Candy Activities Kids Love from Frog and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails (TONS of fun ideas!)
  • Candy Bone Snack from FSPDT
  • Gummy Bear Science Experiment from FSPDT

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

Easy Spider Paper Plate Craft
Sight Word Soccer!

Comments

  1. Natalie F says

    October 28, 2013 at 5:27 pm

    We have to do this classic experiment one of these days, especially with having all the Halloween loot in the house… Thanks for sharing with Afterschool!

    Reply
  2. Chantelle Sessa says

    October 28, 2013 at 7:45 pm

    It’s better if you use skittles 🙂

    Reply
    • mio says

      November 25, 2020 at 8:13 am

      yeah i did that

      Reply
    • Ja'ziah Bailey says

      February 26, 2021 at 5:57 pm

      omg its so cool me and my sister did it my sister was like whaoo

      Reply
  3. Coffee Cups and Crayons says

    October 28, 2013 at 7:51 pm

    We did that too! It is cool!

    Reply
  4. Nikoi says

    October 31, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    We just tried this and I don’t know what went wrong but it didn’t do what the picture showed..

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      November 1, 2013 at 9:34 pm

      Oh no! What happened instead? Were the M&Ms M side up? Here’s a link to a video that shows it if that helps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2kIqlxI7K4&feature=share

      Reply
      • Shay says

        January 29, 2014 at 6:33 pm

        About how long does it take for the letter to come off?

        Reply
        • Megan Sheakoski says

          January 29, 2014 at 9:28 pm

          You should start to see it change fairly quickly. Within minutes most of ours were floating!

          Reply
          • Courtney DIckey says

            February 12, 2015 at 10:21 am

            Are the M & M better in cold water or warm water?

          • Megan Sheakoski says

            February 13, 2015 at 7:45 am

            Good question! Warmer water would dissolve more quickly and it’s pretty fast so I would say cold so you can really see the change. But testing out both would be fun too!

  5. Lisa Huffstuttler says

    October 24, 2019 at 11:29 am

    Do you have a worksheet that goes along with this experiment?

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      November 4, 2019 at 6:32 pm

      No, but I will put it on my list to do!

      Reply

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