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Yeast and Sugar Science Fair Project

By Rachelle

Yeast and sugar science fair project

In this Yeast and Sugar Science Fair Project, we’ll watch yeast feed on sugar to fill a balloon with air. A fun science project for kids that’s with household, everyday materials.

Our Inspiration

I’ve been baking bread just about every day for the past three weeks (nothing too crazy since it’s all done in the bread maker), but last week my 3.5 year old and I got into a discussion about the properties of yeast.

We like to tinker and  experiment — big surprise, I know — and decided to see what would happen if we mixed yeast with warm water.

My preschooler took this job very seriously, poured the water into a bowl, added a couple teaspoons of yeast, and waited a few patient minutes before she said, “it makes a brownish color.” True, and to make it bubble like it does in bread, we needed to activate it with sugar.

What’s so great about an experiment like this is that it’s easy to do with household materials, and it’s ripe for authentic child-generated questions and observations. When I asked what she thought would happen if we added sugar to the yeast she said, “I don’t know! Let’s mix them and find out!.”

In this Yeast Sugar Experiment, we'll watch yeast feed on sugar to fill a balloon with air. A fun science project for kids that's with household, everyday materials.

Supplies: Yeast and Sugar Science Fair Project

  • Sugar, 2 tablespoons
  • Active Dry Yeast, 1 packet or 2 1/4 tablespoons
  • Balloon
  • Warm water (105-115 degrees F, 40.5-46 degrees C)
  • Mixing bowl + funnel
  • Bottle that you can fit a balloon over

Science Projects for Kids | Yeast and Sugar Experiment

Mix the yeast and sugar into the warm water and stir. I noticed that N was sniffing the concoction and asked her what it smelled like. She said “poop.” I could see what she was saying. Consider yourself warned.

Once it all dissolves, pour the mixture into the bottle and cover the bottle with the balloon.

Science Projects for Kids | Yeast and Sugar Experiment

After a few minutes you’ll be amazed by something like this!

Science Projects for Kids | Yeast and Sugar Expriement

Will it blow off the bottle?

N wanted to feel it as it filled with air. She noticed the balloon was getting bigger and wanted to know how big it would get, wondering out loud, “will it fill up all the way and blow off the bottle?”

Good question!

Science Projects for Kids | Yeast and Sugar Experiment

My handy-dandy ship captain sister (no joke — that’s her job!) was visiting, and put herself right to work as chief measurer.

Science Projects for Kids | Yeast and Sugar Experiment

Move it to a safe spot

Once the bottle filled up completely, we moved the whole yeast sugar experriment to the sink. The bubbles were slow-moving, and there was nothing to worry ourselves with, but N enjoyed pulling the balloon off and watching the foam slowly pour over the bottle’s top.

Science Projects for Kids | Yeast and Sugar Experiment

Ideas for Extending this Experiment

As we went through the process, I thought of a few fun extensions for older kids or those who want to take this further. You could play around with food coloring/liquid watercolors, have a few bottles going at once and compare the results of different sugar:yeast ratios, or compare the results of different water temperatures.

I found my recipe at The Exploratorium’s Science of Cooking series, where we also learned that as the yeast eats the sugar it makes carbon dioxide, which is essentially the same process that yeast goes through in our bread dough.

Mmmmm. I’m off to eat some whole wheat cranberry walnut oat bread. Toasted. With butter and Maldon salt. How do you like your bread? And have you played around with yeast concoctions?

More Science Experiments for Kids

If you enjoyed this project, you’ll love this article: Science Fair Project Ideas.

Filed Under: Activities Tagged With: kids, kitchen, preschool, science, sugar, yeast

Comments

  1. Deborah says

    February 2, 2012 at 4:27 am

    What a great idea!!

    • Rachelle says

      February 3, 2012 at 10:54 am

      Thanks, Deborah 🙂

    • gage says

      September 26, 2012 at 6:01 am

      thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for this info

      • gage says

        September 26, 2012 at 6:03 am

        hey

        • Jaycee says

          September 26, 2012 at 6:08 am

          Hey

  2. Amy Hood says

    February 2, 2012 at 4:47 am

    I used to bake a lot of bread with my boys when they were younger (pre-celiac diagnosis) and they always loved my scientific explanation of why the bread rises: the yeast eats the sugar and farts. 🙂 That’s what all the bubbles are, of course!

    • Rachelle says

      February 3, 2012 at 10:53 am

      Yep, farts would be another not-so-pretty way to describe this process. Between that and my daughter’s description, I’m not sure if anyone will want to try this themselves 😉

  3. amy (mamascout) says

    February 3, 2012 at 6:56 am

    we love yeast! my son thinks of yeast as little pets. here is our experiment we did a few months ago. it seems to come up ever year or so. great post!

    http://mamascouts.blogspot.com/2011/09/science-experimentwake-up-yeast.html

    • Rachelle says

      February 3, 2012 at 10:53 am

      Thanks for sharing your yeast experiments, Amy! I love them, and we have to try this with maple syrup next time (if I can convince my MS-adoring family to part with it first!).

  4. Bernadette Grbic says

    February 5, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    way cool! you know I like to tinker as well with my girls – this will be something we can easily do at home.

    I pinned this! 🙂 thanks for sharing!

    • Rachelle says

      February 5, 2012 at 10:00 pm

      Thanks for pinning it, Bern 🙂 And yes, I can totally imagine your two little scientists going crazy over this one!

  5. Kristin @ Preschool Universe says

    March 8, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    This is the best blog for experiments! Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.  Linking up to it in a science for preschoolers post. 

    • Rachelle says

      April 12, 2012 at 12:51 am

      Hi Kristin, Thank you soooooo much for the kind words about Tinkerlab. And thanks for sharing us with your readers….feel free to send me a link if you’d like and I’ll share it on Facebook.

  6. Lindsie says

    June 21, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    This is so fun! We did this today and the kids loved it. Thank you!

    • rachelle says

      June 21, 2012 at 11:18 pm

      awesome, lindsie! i’m thrilled to hear it was successful. thanks for taking time to give me this update.

  7. jesus says

    October 24, 2012 at 6:05 am

    hi robert

  8. Chris says

    October 29, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    Hmmm…sugar, yeast and water…also known as Kilju or sugar wine!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilju

    As well as CO2, yeast and sugar also produces Ethanol (alcohol). Probably best not to teach the kids that part though!

    • rachelle says

      October 29, 2012 at 3:37 pm

      That’s funny, Chris. I’m sure that my 4-year old won’t be least bit interested in sugar wine!

      • Chris says

        October 30, 2012 at 2:19 pm

        Point taken. Out of interest, did you ever find out what made the “poop” smell? In theory it should just produce CO2 which doesn’t smell.

  9. Patrick says

    February 8, 2013 at 5:57 pm

    could i add flour to the mixture. would it have the same effect ?

  10. sara says

    April 29, 2013 at 11:22 am

    it’s nice

  11. sara says

    April 29, 2013 at 11:22 am

    moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    • paisley says

      April 5, 2020 at 11:35 am

      why soooooooo many o’s sara

  12. Kallum says

    May 12, 2013 at 4:31 pm

    What quantity of water did you use? I’m doing an adaptation of this for my science assignment

  13. miguel cabrera says

    September 27, 2013 at 7:51 am

    Miguel Cabrera

  14. Katie says

    December 14, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    What were the measurements for each balloon

  15. Meaghan says

    September 22, 2014 at 8:37 am

    Thanks for this great post. We did this today while baking bread. My boys loved measuring the baloons often and seeing what would happen.

  16. Zineddin says

    February 23, 2019 at 9:55 pm

    Thanks Nice Experiment

  17. luisa says

    March 6, 2019 at 2:23 pm

    I don’t get it, it does not have a video!

  18. Marla says

    July 19, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    Is this supposed to be 2 1/4 TEASPOONS or TABLESPOONS. Your instructions say one packet of yeast (which is 2/4 teaspoons) but you wrote 2 1/4 tablespoons. Thanks for any clarification you can provide

    • Marla says

      July 19, 2020 at 12:44 pm

      * my comment should read that one packet of yeast is 2 1/4 teaspoons

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