Edible Experiments = Happy Pupils 

This week we have seen all classes in Prep enjoy two Christmas practical lessons. Years 4 and 6 made Black Death buboes from doughnuts which were oozing custard and jam and given a crusty layer of rice krispies and icing – many of the Year 6s reported these were the best doughnuts they had ever eaten and intend to try them out as a regular Christmas treat!

Years 3 and 5 made edible worm farms from crushed biscuit layers, gummy worms and giant strawberry sweets cut into ladybirds and grass tufts. The children had so much fun and the results were not just superbly similar to the real worm farm in the lab, but were also delicious!

As an extra treat, all year groups indulged in a hot chocolate lesson where they enjoyed a cup of chocolate with marshmallows as they learned about the changes of state involved in making it from a solid to a liquid and noticing the gas water vapour given off. We also learned about the drink’s history from a very different Mayan recipe, the chemical structure of chocolate, the biology of growing cocoa beans and the physical process of making cocoa into chocolate.

Christmas science equation…

52 packets of biscuits + 96 doughnuts + 7 Kilos of jelly sweets + 1 Kilo of marshmallows + 3 Kilos of hot chocolate powder = 80a + 90b + 180x + 164y

a = edible worm farms

b = doughnut buboes

x = cups of hot chocolate

y = happy Caterham Prep School children!

Many thanks and happy Christmas to everyone who helped Mrs Hills-Matthews and the children have such fun this week, and a massive thank you to Mr Ahern and the school catering team who helped find and deliver all of the ingredients (it was a very long list and the children had a wonderful time as a result!).