Cool Science Kids Can Eat

This summer, turn snack time into science time with the Frozen Drink Making Kit and Quicksicle Maker®! While these products make fun frozen treats in just minutes, you can teach your kids or grandkids about them. coldness lessons. Here’s how they work, what ingredients to use, and what tasty recipes to try.

How to set up and run your experiment

Sugar is more than just a sweetener: it’s actually the magic that keeps your homemade slushes smooth and your ice cream frozen. For what? Because it lowers the freezing point of water, much like salt melts ice on sidewalks.

1. Choose your potion
To begin this experience, choose a base drink. You’ll get the best (and tastiest) results with fruit juice, chocolate milk, soft drink, or mixed fruit.

Please note: Do not add still water or sugar-free drinks to the Frozen Drink Maker or Quicksicle Maker®. The resulting mixture will be extremely difficult to remove and may even break the product(s).

2. Set settings
Pour your drinks into three small cups and stir in varying amounts of a natural sweetener. You can use honey, agave nectar or even maple syrup.

Add no sweetener at the first cup.
Add a little sweetener to the second cup.
Add lots of sweetener to the third cup.

Put the cups in the refrigerator for a while. This will freeze your treats faster!

3. Start the experiment
Remove your Frozen Drink Maker or Quicksicle Maker® from the freezer.

If using the Frozen Drink Making Kit:

Please note: You can only perform the experiment with two cups at a time.
Pour the first cup into the freezer cup.
Encourage your child to scratch and stir for 8 to 15 minutes.

If using the Quicksicle Maker®:

Arrange three sticks in three molds.
Slowly pour each cup into a separate mold.
Leave the Quicksicle Maker® on your counter and let it freeze the popsicles for 8 to 15 minutes.

4. Observe and test the taste
Help guide your child’s curiosity by asking them the following questions as they react to their homemade slushie or popsicle variations.

Which one tastes better?
Which one looks smoother?
Which froze the fastest?
Was one of the slushies more difficult to stir than the others?
Which is easier to pick up or eat?
Which one is super icy?
Which one is really difficult?
Can you tell which one has more or less sugar just by tasting it or looking at it?

5. Share the reasoning
Now it’s time to share why different slushies and popsicles turned out the way they did. Since both the Frozen Drink Maker and Quicksicle Maker® contain cooling liquid that gets very cold (below freezing!), they can freeze slushies and popsicles quickly.

That’s where sugar comes in. When you have sugar in your drink mix, it lowers the freezing point of the liquid and prevents the mixture from freezing into a solid block of ice. This is why slushies and popsicles with more sugar turn out softer and smoother while versions with little or no sugar become very hard and cold.

It’s time to treat yourself!

After testing the science, you can still taste the fun! Use your Frozen Drink Making Kit or Quicksicle Maker® to whip up these sweet recipes and transform your kitchen into the world’s coolest laboratory.