Science experiments for Valentine’s Day should most definitely include conversation candy hearts! Why not explore candy science this Valentine’s Day with a dissolving candy heart experiment to explore solubility. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for candy science experiments!

Explore Science For Valentine’s Day

We always manage to wind up with a bag of these candy hearts for Valentine’s Day. Conversation hearts are perfect for conducting simple science experiments with a Valentine’s Day theme!

How many ways can you use a bag of candy hearts for early learning, fun science, and cool STEM projects?

Dissolving candy hearts is a great lesson in solubility for simple chemistry! This easy Valentine’s Day experiment doesn’t take much effort to set up or use expensive supplies.

You will need to find a safe place for the experiment to hang out for a while though while you time how long it takes for the solid to dissolve in the liquid.

Exploring solubility is awesome kitchen science. You can raid the pantry for liquids such as water, almond milk, vinegar, oil, rubbing alcohol, juice, and hydrogen peroxide (which we recently used for a very cool thermogenic experiment with yeast).

You can also choose warm, cold, and room-temperature water for a simple set-up with your conversation hearts. See more on this below.

We have quite a few fun ways to explore chemistry this Valentine’s Day! There are many playful and engaging ways to show how chemistry works without getting overly technical. You can keep the science simple but the fun complex!

What Is Chemistry?

Let’s keep it basic for our younger or junior scientists! Chemistry is all about the way different materials are put together, and how they are made up including atoms and molecules. It’s also how these materials act under different conditions. Chemistry is often a base for physics so you will see overlap!

What might you experiment with in chemistry? Classically we think of a mad scientist and lots of bubbling beakers, and yes there is a reaction between bases and acids to enjoy! Also, chemistry involves matter, changes, solutions, and the list goes on and on.

We will be exploring simple chemistry you can do at home or in the classroom that isn’t too crazy, but is still lots of fun for kids! You can check out some more chemistry activities here. Check out the video! You can never recreate the same look twice.

Helpful Science Resources To Get You Started

Here are a few resources that will help you introduce science more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident yourself when presenting materials. You’ll find helpful free printables throughout.

What Is Solubility?

Solubility is how well something can dissolve in a solvent. What you are trying to dissolve may be a solid, liquid, or gas, and the solvent could also be a solid, liquid, or a gas.

So testing solubility is not limited to testing a solid in a liquid solvent! But, here we are testing how well a solid (candy heart) dissolves in a liquid.

There are a few different ways this experiment can be set up for kids at home and in the classroom. Also see how we set up “what solids dissolves in water experiment” here.

Testing the solvency of different liquids with candy hearts. Explore the solubility of conversation candy heartsPin

Experiment Variations

Here are a few ways to set up this dissolving candy heart science experiment depending on how much time you have and what age group you are working with.

Even a water sensory bin with a handful of these candy hearts makes a playful and taste safe sensory science option for your littlest scientist! See more Valentine sensory bin ideas!

FIRST SET-UP OPTION: Use just water to show how a candy heart dissolves. Will water dissolve the hearts? Learn about why sugar dissolves in water.

SECOND SET-UP OPTION: Use different temperature water. Ask the question, will a hotter or colder water dissolve the candy heart faster?

THIRD SET-UP OPTION: Use a variety of liquids to test which liquid is a better solvent. A few good liquids to include are water, vinegar, oil, and rubbing alcohol.

Adding candy to test tubes with different liquid solvents for our dissolving candy hearts science experiment Pin

Dissolving Candy Heart Experiment

TIP: Have your kiddos develop a hypothesis before starting the experiment. Ask some questions! Get them thinking about why or why not their hypothesis will work. The scientific method is an awesome tool to apply to any science experiment and encourages more abstract thinking for older kiddos.

Supplies:

  • Quick science journal pages
  • Test tubes and rack (Alternatively, you use clear cups or jars)
  • Conversation Candy Hearts
  • Variety of Liquids (Suggestions: cooking oil, vinegar, water, milk, juice, rubbing alcohol, or hydrogen peroxide)
  • Timer
  • Stirrers (optional)

Instructions:

STEP 1. Add an equal amount of the chosen liquids to each test tube or cup! Have the kids help with measuring too!

This is a great time to discuss what they think will happen to each candy heart in each liquid, make their own predictions, and write or discuss a hypothesis. Learn more about using the scientific method with kids.

STEP 2. Add a candy heart to each liquid.

Candy hearts science activityPin

STEP 3. Grab a timer and wait, watch, and observe changes in the candy hearts.

Can you pinpoint using the timer which liquid will dissolve the candy heart the fastest?

Dissolving candy hearts STEM activity for kids Valentines Day sciencePin

Use the printable dissolving candy science worksheet to record your findings. You can record how long it takes for the changes to begin for each liquid, and then you can record when the candy is dissolved!

That is, if it dissolves at all…

Don’t expect this to be a fast process! You will see changes start to take place but our timer was still going two hours later.

While you are waiting, why not stack candy hearts for a quick Valentine’s Day building challenge. We have some fun printable STEM challenge cards for you to enjoy this year!

Check in on your dissolving candy hearts experiment now and then. Your kids probably aren’t going to want to sit and stare at it for a couple of hours unless they really love stacking the candy.

Stacking candy heartsPin

You can also make candy heart oobleck to check out solubility playfully!

Dissolving candy hearts in oil solvent science experimentPin

The Science Behind This Dissolving Hearts Experiment

I want to point out what the heart says in the oil above. NO WAY! Funny, as the candy will not dissolve in cooking oil. Why? Because oil molecules are much different than water molecules. They do not attract the sugary solid as water does.

The test tube to the right of the oil is water. Water is called the universal solvent because it can dissolve a variety of substances, including salts, sugars, acids, gases, and many organic compounds.

On the other side of the oil is hydrogen peroxide. We noticed the heart floated to the surface. The hydrogen peroxide is a denser liquid than the water, so the heart is likely to float quicker as some of it dissolves.

Below you can see the vinegar and almond milk in action. Almond milk is largely made of water.

Have some fun with your kids this Valentine’s Day and explore solubility with a traditional candy! Make science fun and your kids will be hooked for life. They will be ready and waiting to learn with hands-on science and STEM activities.

What liquids will dissolve candy hearts Valentine's Day science activity for kidsPin

More Fun Valentine’s Day Science Experiments

You can find all our Valentine’s Day science experiments here, including…

Printable Valentine STEM Project Pack

Countdown to Valentine’s Day with science and STEM! Pack includes complete instructions, templates, and images for 20+ activities. Bonus: printable science Valentine’s Day cards!

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