Make Your Own Bubble Gum - STEM Lesson

When I found out that February 1 (first Friday in February) was Bubble Gum Day, it started a chain reaction that ended up with the plan to make our own gum. Now, first of all, gum is a HUGE no-no in our Club. It gets stuck to floors, and tables, and chairs, and hair and just leads to a mess in general; however, I can be persuaded to put all of that aside for science. So, I did a bunch of googling and ended up finding a recipe to make our own gum. (There are also handy dandy kits over at Amazon if you'd rather go that route).

This is definitely a small group activity, perhaps your STEM Club or Cooking Club kids could make this and share with their friends. We opted to allow all of our Club kids to take a piece of gum (wrapped in wax paper) home with them and the creators got to enjoy their creation in the kitchen under wraps.

Here's the recipe we found online:

• 1/3 cup Gum Mix 
• 1/2 tsp Citric Acid 
• 3/4 cup Powdered Sugar 
• 3 tbsp Corn Syrup 
• 1 tbsp Food Coloring 
• 1 tsp Flavoring 
• 1 tsp Glycerol

The process isn't too difficult, but it does require melting ingredients in the microwave so use caution that the kids aren't touching the mixture while it's too hot.

Get a microwave-safe bowl and put in the gum mix, corn syrup, glycerol, citric acid, and flavoring.  Place it in the microwave for 60 seconds and give it a stir. Microwave it again for another 30 seconds and stir. Repeat the process until it’s all melted.  Add Food coloring and stir again. Pour half of the sugar in a flat surface, make a well in the middle, and pour in the gum mixture in the middle. Leave it for 5 minutes to cool.  Slowly knead it together and put sugar if it starts to become sticky. Once done, flatten it down with a rolling pin or with your hands then cut them however you want.

After you've cut the gum into individual pieces, you can wrap it in pieces of wax paper to share with your friends.

Remember how I said there was a kit on Amazon, well, there are several (I even found one that sells at Target). Don't be intimated by the list of "odd" ingredients, this is a really easy and fun project and a kit provides you with everything you need.

Did you try making your own gum? How did it turn out? Let me know!

Graphics used in this blog post are from Thistle Girl Designs.
The recipe for bubble gum has been adapted from Stay at Home Mum.