You’ll love this popcorn science mini unit study. Also, you’ll love my mini corn book on my fall unit study and Best Homeschool Unit Studies.
This mini unit study includes the whole family in on the tasty fun, with plenty of hands-on activities, books, videos, and more.
Also, I have a fun science experiment that is easy to do for all ages and expandable for a more in-depth activity.
Learn about the history of popcorn with some fun facts.
Dive into an experiment, make a sensory bin, play a game, read a book, or watch a quick video.
And enjoy this fun collection of corny ideas for your unit study
10 Popping Popcorn Facts
- January 19th is National Popcorn Day.
- It’s over 5000 years old.
- The first commercial popcorn machine was invented in 1885 by Charles Cretors.
- Convenient microwaveable popcorn was invented by the Pillsbury company in 1982.
- The unpopped kernels at the bottom of a bag are called old maids.
- Kernels are made up of about 4% water and that water causes it to pop when it’s heated up.
- Nebraska produces the most popcorn in America at about 250 million pounds per year.
- Way back in the 1800’s, it was often eaten as a cereal with milk and sugar.
- The scientific name is Zea Mays Everta.
- It was not allowed in movie theaters in the early 1900’s.
Also, you’ll love some history facts.
Besides being a delicious snack, your child will appreciate a bit of corn and popped corn history.
History of Corn and Popcorn
It was introduced to early American settlers by the Indians.
The first corn farmers were the American Indians, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Mayas and others.
Additionally, there are varieties like black corn, pink corn, red corn and white corn, besides the better-known yellow corn.
Writing of Peruvian Indians in 1650, the Spaniard Cobo says, “They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it pisancalla, and they use it as a confection.”
Pre-Inca Peruvians worshipped a corn goddess adorned with a crown of corn ears radiating from her head like the spokes of a wheel.
How does corn grow? The kernel is the seed. The seed is planted in the soil. The stalk begins to grow. The stalk is the stem. Leaves grow from the nodes.
Ears of corn grow from the nodes. Each plant is male and female. The silk catches pollen from the tassels.
Then pollen travels down the silk and fertilizes the kernels.
Next, here are some book ideas.
Resource for a Fun Popcorn Study
10 Fun Popcorn Unit Study Resources
Grab some of these resources for a fun popcorn unit study.
In The Physics of Popcorn, you’ll discover the truth about toast, learn how the microwave oven works, and conduct experiments with static electricity!
Tony likes to cook. Tiny likes to read. And both twins like to eat . . . POPCORN!So while Tiny cooks it, Tony reads about it: what popcorn is, how it's stored and prepared, legends and stories about it, and its history in Europe and North America.
Meet Otto, a young Kernel who’s been dreaming about the day he would pop. But what happens when Pop Day finally arrives, and things don’t go as planned? When all the Kernels pop except for Otto, he's left wondering what went wrong. Otto returns to his jar, alone, until a delicious smell leads to an exciting discovery. Perhaps Otto didn’t need to pop to do everything he’d always dreamed of!
Pull up a chair and dig in! POPCORN is chock-full of tidbits about one of America's favorite snack foods. Learn what makes popcorn pop, how Native Americans liked their popcorn, and how television almost wiped out popcorn's future. Cooking tips, recipes, and resources included.
From seed to bowl of popcorn, James learns the value of patience and neighborly generosity as he grows a backyard crop of corn with his family. Included is a recipe for stovetop popcorn that you too can share with your neighbors and friends!
HIGH FLYING FUN: What’s a party without the popcorn? With matches being rolled on just about every turn, you never know who will be popping next in this high-flying, catch-the-kernel food frenzy!
FAST PACED ACTION: Get your game face on and get ready to roll, pop, match, and catch to win! But watch out; don't try to catch the kernel when it's not time or you may get popped with a penalty!
Popcorn Dice is a fast & fun dice game for the whole family!
Gameplay is simple to learn and games usually take less than 15 minutes.
Roll your dice to pop your popcorn, but careful not to let it burn.
WORD GAMES FOR KIDS: Children create and learn words with common endings in this fast-paced game
EDUCATIONAL GAMES STRENGTHEN VOCABULARY: Strengthens vocabulary, spelling, and fluency
Learn numbers and counting with food you can play with
Build number sense and recognition, and practice counting
Set includes 15 jumbo popcorn pieces to count into 5 different-size bowls (printed with numbers 1-5)
TIME FOR POPCORN FUN: Wind up the timer at the bottom of the popcorn bucket by pulling the string.
FOLLOW THE RULES: Pop the die, once the die has popped, you follow the instructions on the die (next, reverse, repeat, skip or choose)
In addition, here are more corn posts.
Corn and Hands-on Ideas
- Geronimo Stilton Field Trip to Niagara Falls Summary And Fun Corn Craft
- Fall Unit Study {Pumpkins, Leaves, Corn, & More}
- Preschoolers will love exploring their five senses with this Popcorn 5 Senses Activities
- Your little one will love learning How to Make Dancing Popcorn through this easy experiment.
- If you were a Little House fan you will remember the popcorn and milk “trick” from Farmer Boy. Recreate it in your own kitchen with your child with the Popcorn and Milk experiment.
- This Popcorn Letter Practice is not only great for prewriting activities but doubles as a sensory bin too.
- Popcorn: How It’s Made YouTube
- Why Does Popcorn Pop? YouTube
- How Popcorn Works YouTube
- For a quick activity, toss some unpopped kernels and a few popped ones in a shallow dish, include tongs for fine motor practice, a magnifying glass to examine popcorn closer, and some letter beads to practice spelling out popcorn related words with little ones.
Finally, here is a fun and simple experiment.
You can easily add on to this experiment by adding more brands, different varieties, or by trying to pop them via different methods.
Track the results. For example, by microwave, pan pop and air pop.
Or by using this method I am showing you that is the easiest for all age groups- microwaved in a paper bag.
Popcorn Science Experiment
Before you begin you want to stress to your child that in a scientific experiment
You want to keep all variables the same except for one thing which is the brand.
It is very important that you use the same method to pop all 3 types of popcorn and that you use the exact same amount for each one.
You will need:
- 3 different brands of popcorn
- 3 paper bags
- Smalls bowls
- Pen
Directions:
Start by having your child make a hypothesis (an educated guess) on which brand they think will pop the most and the least.
Label each of your paper bags with the brand of corn you are using.
Then, have your child count out 100 of each type of popcorn into little bowls, make labels to keep track as you transfer popcorn.
Transfer each bowl to the correct paper bag and roll it down tightly.
Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes.
Repeat for each bag.
Remove bags and have your child either count the number of unpopped kernels left or the number of popped for each and write it down on your label.
Talk about the results, was their hypothesis correct? Were they surprised by any of the outcomes?
