Daily STREAM Activity: Butter Recipe

There's nothing butter than butter!

Activity best for children age 2 and up

Would you like to do a fun science experiment that gets you moving, takes about 10 minutes, turns a liquid into a solid and that you can totally eat at the end of doing it? Making butter at home is that science experiment! All you need is a clean clear jar with a lid and some heavy whipping cream, oh and lots of strong arm muscles for shaking the jar. What happens when you shake, shake and shake some more, the liquid cream ? By shaking the cream, the fat molecules begin to separate from the liquid. The more the cream gets shaken, the more those fat molecules clump together to form a solid – the butter.

Materials you’ll need:

Heavy whipping cream

Clear jar with lid

Questions to answer while experimenting:

Where does milk come from?

What part of the milk makes  cream?

How long should I shake the jar – 5 mins, 10 mins, 15 mins?

Can you turn other liquids into solids?

Directions

STEP 1
Pour the heavy cream into the clean clear jar. Only fill the jar half way, there needs to be room for the cream to shake around.

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STEP 2
Put the lid on the jar and start shaking the jar. Shake hard for 5 minutes.

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STEP 3
After about 5 minutes, open the lid and see what is going on in the jar. It should look very foamy. Put the lid back on and keep shaking the jar until the sides of the jar are clear again and the butter is forming into a solid mass.

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STEP 4
You should hear and see a liquid sloshing around as you shake, this means that the cream is changing into buttermilk and you almost have butter! Shake for a few more minutes. There should be a big solid mass of butter with some liquid around it. You are done shaking.

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STEP 5
Use a spoon to scoop out the butter from the jar. The liquid left in the jar is buttermilk and can be used for baking. Rinse the butter very briefly under cold water to keep it from spoiling. Now you have butter!

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Reading extension:

Let’s Make Butter
by Eleanor Christian & Lyzz Roth-Singer
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