Grade 6: Science

Gummy Bear Osmosis 

Turn a sweet treat into a sweet science experiment with ingredients you already have around the house!  

This experiment involves soaking gummy bears in water and other liquids to observe the effects of osmosis. You can decrease the complexity of the experiment by only using some of the liquids instead of all of them. Sixth graders can easily run the experiment independently, but you can help prepare liquids or gather materials to save time.  

Materials:  

  • Gummy bears (enough for experimenting and munching!)  
  • 1/2 cup each of as many liquids as you want to use:  
  • Water 
  • Salt water (1 tablespoon salt dissolved in 1/2 cup water) 
  • Sugar water (1 tablespoon sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup water) 
  • Vinegar 
  • Sparking water or soda 
  • Milk  
  • Glass vessels (cups, jars, whatever you have) 
  • Paper and pencil 
  • Ruler 
  • Paper towels 
  • Kitchen scale (optional)  
  • Timer 

Help your child fill each glass with 1/2 cup of a solution—plain water, sugar water, salt water, vinegar, sparkling water, and/or milk. Label each glass to remember which solution is which.  

Drop one gummy bear in each solution. Set a timer for twelve hours. You can check on the gummy bears from time to time, but don’t touch them or remove them from the liquids. 

While they wait, ask your child to observe a fresh gummy bear. Use a ruler to measure its length and a kitchen scale to measure its weight (if available). Have them record these measurements along with predictions and preliminary observations. Here are some prompts to get them started:  

  • What color is the gummy bear?  
  • What is the texture?  
  • What do you think will happen to the gummy bears when they soak in the solutions? 
  • Do you think they will get bigger or smaller? 
  • Do you think they will weigh more or less? 
  • Do you think they will change color? 

When the time is up, kids can gently remove the gummy bears from the liquids and lay them out on paper towels. You’ll notice the gummy bears have grown, some more than others. Invite your child to record the new length and weight of each gummy bear. Compare these gummy bears to the measurements of the fresh gummy bear they took at the start of the experiment. Here are some questions to help them reflect on the changes they observed:  

  • How did the gummy bears change? 
  • Are the gummy bears still all the same size? 
  • Which gummy bear grew the most? Which grew the least? 
  • Did the gummy bears hold their shape? 
  • Did the gummy bears change color? 
  • Did the liquids change? How? 
  • What other kind of solutions would you like to try this experiment with? 
  • What do you think would happen with a different kind of candy, such as a stick of gum? 

Once they have recorded their observations, you can explain the science behind what happened to put their observations in context.  

Because a gummy bear is made of solid gelatin, with no water, it absorbs the liquid it is submerged in instead of dissolving. This process is called osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of a liquid through a membrane, from a place of high-water concentration (the liquid) to a place of low-water concentration (inside the gummy bear). When the water concentration level is the same inside and outside the membrane, the water will stop moving. The substances have reached equilibrium—the same concentration of water on each side of the membrane. Some gummy bears got bigger than others because they had to absorb more water to reach equilibrium.  

Actively engaging in the scientific method, with simple materials kids are familiar with, is a powerful way to help them connect to the scientific concepts they are learning about in school, and to get kids thinking like scientists. Plus, including them in every step of the process empowers kids to be curious, practice flexible thinking, and develop problem-solving skills.