Gingerbread Science

Today we did a very exciting science experiment with Mrs. Summers kids. We have been reading many versions of the Gingerbread Boy. We noticed that in many of the versions, the gingerbread cookie comes to a river. At the river he meets a fox. The fox knows that the cookie cannot go in the water and tricks him into climbing onto his back so he can take him across. The trusting cookie climbs onto the foxes back and the fox jumps into the water. The gingerbread cookie is then eaten by that tricky fox. This led us to wonder what would happen if the gingerbread boy had tried to cross the river himself. We set up an experiment where the children needed to make predictions about what might happen when the cookie went in the water. Many predicted that he would crumble, get soggy, sink to the bottom, fall apart, etc. We then placed a cookie inside a tub of water. After ten minutes we came out and had a discussion about our observations. We noticed that they were soft looking and wiggly and had gotten larger. We then left them in the water for 20 more minutes. When we came out to check on them, they had both floated to the top. When a kiddo tried to pick one up out of the water, the cookie completely fell apart. We talked about why this happened and drew many conclusions about cookies and liquid. Some children made the connection with what happens when they dunk oreos in milk. Our discussion led us to think about what the gingerbread could have done differently in the story so that he didn't have to choose between the fox and the river! Please talk with your child about what we did today- I am sure they will have lots to say.