How to Make Jello Outside in the Snow

Children in elementary school start learning about the states of matter, the properties of matter, and how matter changes when heat is added or removed from it. Making this tasty jello snack with your students is a fun way to integrate simple cooking skills into your science and STEM lessons about matter. Keep reading to find out how!

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States of Matter and Chemical Changes

When making jello with your students, do a quick review of the three basic states of matter:

• solid = jello (gelatin) powder
• liquid = water
• gas = steam rising from the water

Next, review what happens to matter when these chemical changes happen:

• solid + heat = liquid
• liquid + heat = gas
• gas + cold (the removal of heat) = liquid
• liquid + cold (the removal of heat) = solid

How to Make Jello Outside in the Snow

Making jello in the snow is almost identical to making jello in the kitchen... instead of putting the jello in the refrigerator to cool, however, you'll be putting it into a pile of fresh snow. You will need a few items from your kitchen at home or school and several boxes of powdered gelatin mix that can be purchased at a dollar store.

Note: Adult supervision is required for this activity. Children should never be left unattended near a hot stove.

You Will Need

• one or more boxes of jello mix of your favorite flavor (Generic brands of gelatin work just as well as the Royal and Jell-O brands.)
• one saucepan
• one measuring cup
• one wooden spoon
• one paper cup and spoon per child

Directions

• Gather all of the items you need and set the saucepan on the stove.
• Follow the directions on the back of the jello box.
• Carefully pour the jello liquid into the paper cups.
• Carefully set the paper cups outside in a pile of fresh, clean snow.

• Check the cups every hour or so to see when the jello is ready. The amount of time needed to chill the jello will vary depending on the size of the paper cups used. For example, if you use bathroom paper cups, your jello will be ready much faster than if you use kitchen-sized paper cups.
• Once the jello has set and looks ready to eat, go ahead and pull the cups out of the snow. Your students can eat the jello right from their cups... even if there is fresh snow on top of it.

 It was getting cloudy outside and it started to snow, so we brought our cups inside. Luckily, the jello was outside long enough to set and was ready to be eaten.

Instead of eating my jello directly from the paper cup, I decided to get fancy. I scooped up some fresh snow and put it in the bottom of a glass bowl and dumped my jello onto it. Doesn't it look delicious?

Did you enjoy this blog post about making jello in the snow? If so, check these blog posts for more recipe ideas:

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