Last week we announced the relaunch of
our popular Kitchen Concoction resource which can be found at http://www.ciec.org.uk/kitchen_concoctions . This
week we are featuring the activity What’s
in a bar of soap? In this activity children focus on developing the skills
needed to follow and amend recipes, linked to the industrial context of soap
manufacture.
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Children in Ashwell School Hertfordshire
developing soap bars
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Through practical activities children
develop their understanding of accuracy, measuring, reading scales, ratio,
collaborative working and product development. They also experience
irreversible changes through the manufacturing process, as they combine solid
and liquid ingredients together.
Children are shown a ‘Strictly
Classified recipe’, to stimulate a class discussion about how precise recipes
ensure product consistency, and how unnamed ingredients, labelled a-k, can help
develop recipe confidentiality in an industrial context.
While carrying out the activity children
are given the opportunity to work in small ‘companies’; each child is assigned
a role within the company such as Communications Officer or Resources Manager. They then work to develop their own soap bars
from soap noodles, glycerine and cosmetic ingredients.
An element of competition is
introduced, as the finished bars must be able to be handled, as well as looking
and smelling appealing. Although the children are given a recipe and process to
follow, an element of product development is also involved, as they decide
which colours and fragrances to use.
We loved developing our own soap bar,
ours used strawberry and blueberry fragrance and we added blue colouring, so we
called it ‘Berry Bliss’ Year 5 girl, Mary Exton School,
Hertfordshire
A benefit of the updated resource is
that teachers can click on a video link within the notes which demonstrates how
the soap noodles and soap bars are made in industry. This enables the class to
see how the processes they use in the classroom are also used on an industrial
scale. At every stage of the recipe the children are encouraged to make careful
observations and discuss how the mixture is changing.
Of course, often the key learning
comes when mistakes are made. Failed recipes, that are too wet or crumbly to
handle, provide great opportunity for discussion and develop problem solving
skills. The children are then given the opportunity to adjust their recipes,
using the knowledge gained of the ingredient functions and processes from the
activity, to amend and improve their bars of soap.
An important feature of the resource are the ‘Questions
for Thinking’ which support teachers to ask open ended questions which assist with the discussions that arise.
The key questions allowed some super
discussions about how to change the recipe to improve their bars of soap and
how to plan an investigation into this in a systematic way.
Year5/6 Teacher, Foxton School, Cambridgeshire
As soap is made through an extrusion
process, the resource also provides a quick and easy link to the Industry
– Animated website, opening up online interactive
follow up activities, where children can learn about industrial extrusion via
interactive animations.
So, if you are looking for a resource
to help develop the skills of product development, apply mathematics and create
opportunities for working scientifically then don’t delay and explore Kitchen Concoctions
today!
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