Making Butter

Science
Time 30 minutes
Age 5 & up
Group Size 4 or more
Tags Butter, Cooking, Dairy,   more...
Milk

How does milk turn into butter?

Much of the food we eat started out as something else.  Bread comes from wheat, ketchup comes from tomatoes and butter comes from milk.  The process by which these foods are created is often a mystery to children, and by experimenting with making their own versions of these foods, they can begin to understand and have a greater appreciation for the fuel they are putting into their bodies.

Preparation

Make some butter ahead of time so you are familiar with the process.

Making Butter
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Suggested Materials

  • Heavy cream (also try whole milk, light cream, half and half for optional activity below)
  • Measuring cups
  • Small clear jars with tight lids (baby food jars work well, 1 per team)
1

Make it Matter

Opening Discussion

Ask your students to name as many different foods as they can that are made with milk. How do they think milk becomes those foods? If butter is not on the list, ask them what they think butter is made out of. If they say “milk” or “cream”, ask them if they think they can make their own butter just using milk or cream. If they do not mention these ingredients, you can tell them that you would like them to experiment with cream and then milk to see if they can make butter using just those ingredients.

The Challenge

Make your own butter!

2

Make it Happen

Doing the Activity

  1. Divide your class into teams of 2 or 3.
  2. Hand a jar and lid out to each team. Measure 1/4 cup of heavy cream (whipping cream) and pour into the jar. Close the lid tightly and shake the jar.
  3. Continue shaking for 5-12 minutes. Every minute or so, the person shaking the jar should hand it off to a teammate — those arms will get tired with all that shaking! When you feel nothing sloshing around in the jar, open it up. What do you see? Close it again and continue shaking until you feel something sloshing again. Open the jar up and look again — has anything changed?
3

Make it Click

Let’s Talk About It

After every team has made butter, bring them together to share their observations with each other.  What did they notice in their jars the first time they stopped shaking?  There should have been something thick and frothy in their jars.  That was whipped cream.  What happened after they shook for just a little longer?  There should be a ball of butter, surrounded by liquid.  This liquid is buttermilk.

4

Make it Better

Build On What They Talked About

If you have time, try making butter with whole milk, light cream, etc.  You should notice that no matter how hard they shake, they cannot make butter with any of the milks.  This is because there is either not enough fat in the milk, or because the milk is homogenized, which makes the fat droplets in milk too small to stick together and make butter.

Suggestions

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