Who loves Christmas candy? We do! These easy Christmas candy experiments are a great way to learn while enjoying Christmas treats.
Get ready to turn your kitchen into a festive science lab as you explore the science behind melting, dissolving, taste and smell, all with a wonderful Christmas twist.
Edible Christmas Science Activities
Christmas Skittles Experiment
First, here’s a Christmas twist on the traditional Skittles experiment. All you need to do is arrange your Skittles on a plate or tray ( we chose Christmas colours ) and slowly pour warm or cold water over the top. The colour from the Skittles dissolves into the water.
Be careful not to nudge the container as the colours will merge, and you won’t get the separated colours effect.
Little Bins for Little Hands tried a peppermint in water, which also worked well.
Marshmallow Snowman – Christmas Candy Experiment
This marshmallow snowman activity is great fun. Children can test different types of sticky substances to see which is the strongest. You could also try this with meringue pieces. Icing sugar, glucose syrup and marshmallow fluff are great sticky substances to test.
All about the Candy Canes
With our easy investigation, you can investigate how strong a candy cane is. Strengthen the candy cane with different materials and add ornaments until it breaks.
Another idea is to dissolve a candy cane using different liquids; we tried hot water, cold water and vinegar. You could also do this using hot chocolate. A minty candy cane makes a delicious stirring spoon, but will it melt?
Sugar Crystal Lollypops
These sugar crystal lollypops are tricky but fun to try, even if they don’t work the first time. It is a VERY sticky process though, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Christmas Chocolate STEM
Minty chocolate leaves are super easy to make, taste great and are perfect for learning about changes of state.
For a stronger minty taste, try our peppermint candies. These are delicious and taste very festive!
Warm up with a Christmas Drink
It’s not quite candy, but hot chocolate with marshmallows is a great way to warm up on a cold day, and you can add a little science to the treat by investigating whether marshmallows melt fastest in a warm or hot drink. Is there a perfect marshmallow level of meltiness?
This activity is also part of my 24 days of elf science ideas series.
Gingerbread House STEM Challenge
My gingerbread house investigation is similar to the snowman but with gingerbread. If you don’t want to go all out and make a large house, a mini version with small biscuits works just as well.
I made ours like a tent with just two square pieces of gingerbread and experimented with different strengths of icing sugar to see which held the house together the best.
More Christmas Science
We’ve got lots of fun and easy Christmas science experiments to keep you busy this year. My current favourite is our collection of Santa STEM challenges.
If you fancy trying something different each day, we have a science advent calendar too!
If you’re looking for Christmas gifts, I have lots of recommendations and easy ideas for homemade STEM or Science kits!
Finally, try one of my Elf candy games. Download the FREE challenge cards and start experimenting!
Do let us know if you try any of our Christmas candy experiments!
Last Updated on December 3, 2024 by Emma Vanstone
