Chewing Gum Science Project

When the summer reaches its hottest point and the children want to retreat into the air conditioned shelter of your home, have this fun unit study, Chewing Gum Science featuring Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum, ready to go!

Whether you realize it or not, chewing gum and bubble gum are very different. For this project you will need both and I recommend Juicy Fruit since the formula may vary between manufacturer’s and staying with the same company will produce more reliable results to your science experiments.

You can easily find the different variations of Juicy Fruit in the check out lane at Walmart. We used the new Juicy Fruit Fruity Chews, Juicy Fruit Bubble Gum, and original Juicy Fruit Slim Pack.

The other items you need for this chewing gum science  project include:

• kitchen scale (you will need to use the “grams” setting)
• ruler or yard stick
• timer
• The History of Gum & Science Project Worksheet (printable)

My children were so excited about this science project and were eager to learn how to blow bubbles, but first I wanted to give them a bit of chewing gum history and had them record their answers on a worksheet.

The History of Chewing Gum

As we reviewed different websites to find the answers to each question, my husband would occasionally say, “I didn’t know that!” and honestly, there was much that I learned while researching and creating the printable worksheet. For instance, did you know that Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum has been around since 1893 but did not release bubble gum until 2014? Did you know that a pack of Juicy Fruit was the first item with a UCP code scanned by a laser scanner? [Learn more about Juicy Fruit.]

After the history lesson, it was time to start tasting and chewing.

Chewing Gum Science Project

When I put the first piece of Juicy Fruit in my mouth, memories rushed to the surface of my mind. Something about that Juicy Fruit flavor made me remember summers spent under the sprinkler in the yard and watching fireworks downtown. It’s amazing how closely related our senses are to our memory!

Working through our science project, we weighed the different types of Juicy Fruit before and after chewing, measured the stretch of the gum before and after chewing, and timed how long the flavor lasted. I had assumed that the gum would weigh more after chewing because of the introduction of saliva and was surprised to find the opposite was true.

After all the scientific results were recorded, it was time for bubble blowing lessons with the new Juicy Fruit Bubble Gum.

Something about the spitting and sputtering gave us a case of the sillies. The children would try so hard to blow bubbles without a ton of luck. We ended up with a lot of bright yellow Juicy Fruit projectiles launching across the table and the children would blow with all their might.

But  oh! The fun we had as a family, creating new memories enhanced by the familiar flavor of Juicy Fruit. Chewing gum around the table and laughing over the silly sounds while our children tried to create bubbles… yes, I love being a family that loves learning together. It’s our #JuicyFruitFunSide!

What summer memories do you have including Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum?

I would love to know so please leave a comment, and be sure to have fun with your chewing gum science project!

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Download the Chewing Gum Science Printable:

• The History of Gum & Science Project Worksheet (printable)

#CollectiveBias