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Ice cream is made up of droplets of fat from milk suspended in millions of tiny crystals of ice and fluffed up with small pockets of air.

This fun and tasty experiment, brought to you in partnership with the Science Museum Group, explains how your child can make a mixture that turns cold enough to create those ice crystals without a freezer.

Instructions for you and your child to follow...

Let's get started

Step 1

Pour half a cup of flavoured milk into the small zip-lock bag and seal it tight.

Step 2

Put lots of ice into the large zip-lock bag, then add 6 tablespoons of salt. The salt lowers the freezing point of ice, so you should see it begin to melt.

Step 3

Place the small zip-lock bag inside the large bag, and seal the large bag.

Step 4

Put on some gloves (so your hands don’t get cold) and start to gently shake and squeeze the bag.

If you've got enough bags, why not have a race and see who can get the ice cream to freeze the fastest!

Step 5

After five minutes of shaking, carefully take the small bag out and taste your ice cream! Why not get creative with sprinkles, marshmallows or other tasty toppings?

Be careful not to mix any of the salty ice water with your ice cream as you get it out of the bag.

Science in your world

In freezing weather, lorries are sent out to spread salt on the roads and pavements, to help melt ice and snow and make it safer for people to walk and drive around.

The Science Museum Group is a group of museums in the UK who share objects, stories and hands-on activities to engage more people in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Images © Science Museum Group

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