How to make butter at home | Kitchen Lab 4 Kids

How to make butter – experiment with churning milk

Type of resource: Websites

Web address http://dobretluszcze.pl/jak-powstaje-maslo/?fbclid=IwAR3qipigOVhBGSImt45TG6WJqzhgDUlBMczmZifHGHr8tPsyFclTi46M_O8

Language: English

Description

Producing butter in home environment and investigating its qualities – taste, color, texture. Creating the buttery sculptures

Scientific concept introduced

Butter, the process of „churning” milk, whipping up, draining, whipped cream, buttermilk

Creative and critical thinking

Creative thinking: imagination, constructing 3D sculptures from butter

Mathematical reasoning

Measuring ingredients

Scientific thinking

Asking questions; observing, formulating predictions, testing hypotheses; drawing conclusions,

Learning how to learn

Building self-efficacy, motivation and engagement, self-evaluation (documenting and evaluating the results of one’s own learning)

Additional

Teamwork – cooperating with others, following the rules of safety, sharing responsibility for a task; Fine motor skills; Using technological tools to document the results of one’s own work

How to make butter – experiment with churning milk

Overall aims

– Introducing the scientific process of producing butter
– Developing skills related to cooking: whipping up, draining liquids
Shaping the skills of using kitchen tools and equipment
– Developing the abilities to observe, predict and conclude
– Developing the ability to listen and follow instructions (recipe)
– Developing fine motor skills
– Developing the habits of safe and hygienic work in kitchen environment

Vocabulary – keywords should be understood

butter, the process of „churning” milk, whipping up, draining, whipped cream, buttermilk

Expected learning outcomes (operational aims)

The children will be able to:
– explain the process of churning milk,
– investigate the changes of substance qualities under the influence of mechanical process of whipping up,
– use kitchen tools and equipment,
– follow the instructions included in recipe,
– follow the rules of safety and hygiene,
– cooperate in small team,
– use the digital camera to document his/ her own work.

STEM skills – to which the learning unit is related to

CORE STEM SKILLS

Creative thinking: imagination, constructing 3D sculptures from butter,
Mathematical thinking: measuring ingredients,
Scientific thinking: asking questions; observing, formulating predictions, testing hypotheses; drawing conclusions,
Learning how to learn: building self-efficacy, motivation and engagement, self-evaluation (documenting and evaluating the results of one’s own learning)

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

Teamwork – cooperating with others, following the rules of safety, sharing responsibility for a task
Fine motor skills
Using technological tools to document the results of one’s own work

Teaching methodologies/activity outline

1. Building problem situation:
Research question:
What is the butter made from – how is it produced?
What ingredients are necessary to produce butter at home?

2. Formulating hypotheses – children’s ideas should be written down on a big chart of paper (A3)

3. Verifying hypotheses – conducting the experience
– Divide children into small teams (3-4 students in one team)
– Pour heavy cream into a blender and whip (on a very high spinning) till the moment the butter will be separated from buttermilk (each child in a team should have the possibility to use blender for a while)
– Question: What will happen with heavy cream when we will whip it up?
– When the butter will be separated, remove it from a blender and place it on a sieve. Press it with spatula to remove the rest of the buttermilk.
– Question: What happened with a heavy cream – what can you observe?
– Take out the butter from a sieve, mold it into a small ball and place in a large bowl filled with cold water,
– After a while take the butter out, change water in a bowl into a clean one and place the butter again in cold water. Repeat the action a few times till the moment the water becomes clean.
– When the water becomes clean, the butter is ready

4. Summarizing the activity and drawing conclusions
Children are presenting the results of their work – explaining the process of churning (making the butter), tasting the homemade butter, comparing the tastes of homemade butter with industrial products. Documenting their work with digital cameras.

5. Explanation for a teacher:
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of milk or cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. Most frequently made from cow’s milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks. One of the most important stages of producing butter is „churning” milk or cream to separate the fat globules from the buttermilk. Salt and food colorings are sometimes added to butter. Rendering butter, removing the water and milk solids, produces clarified butter or ghee, which is almost entirely butterfat

6. Other activities related to the topic:
– Colorizing the butter – possible only at the beginning, food pigment should be added do the heavy milk;
– Changing butter taste – by adding garlic or other seasoning to heavy cream;
– Different types of milk or cream can be tested;
– Creating butter sculptures with kitchen tools, cookie cutters etc. Cooling the sculptures in the fridge, taking pictures to prepare the exhibition of butter sculptures. Serving butter at the end of activity;

– Using buttermilk to prepare cocktails – comparing the tastes of homemade cocktails with industrial products.

Assessment of learning

● graphical short notes – sorting the stages of producing butter presented in the graphical form (as a set of pictures)
● evaluation tree – using the tree shape to evaluate the workshops – each child places a piece of paper or a stickier on the tree to describe the level of his/ her satisfaction, following the instruction:
– red circle – “I cannot make a butter, I do not know how to to it”
– yellow circle – “I know how to make butter, I know what ingredients are necessary, but I need some help”
– green circle – “I know how to make butter, I know what ingredients are necessary and I can do it myself/ independently”

Equipment and materials to be used in learning unit (tools, ingredients etc)

400 ml of heavy milk (30%, fat) 500 ml of cold water, salt, sieve, large bowl, blender, cutting board, spatula, toothsticks or other tools for creating sculptures (e.g. cookie cutters, knives etc.)