Plastic from Milk

Some of the best science experiments are created by items that you find right in your kitchen. For kids inventor day, January  17th, we decided to find something to create using ingredients and materials we had on hand. Now, this can be interesting with five little ones that are very busy and inquisitive. They wee all excited when it was decided we were going to turn milk into plastic. Like the plastic that the milk jug it came in. 

We came across the experiment from HooplaKidzLab on YouTube. It is a great tutorial and fun video. Go over and check it out. 

The Supplies:​​
Measuring cup
Spoon
Strainer
Paper towels
Cookie Cutter
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon Vinegar

Heat the milk until warm. You can do this in a pan but I just popped it into the microwave in the measuring cup I was using. Going to be honest, the idea of dirtying a pan didn't sound appealing to me. Then we added the vinegar and stirred it in. This process we took turns with. After it was all blended together sort of, we poured it through the strainer. After straining the mixture it was dried two times with the paper towels. Finally, we patted it out and used the cookie cutter to cut it out. 

And stir... And stir... And stir... and Stir some more. 

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These two handsome little men where great helpers. They volunteered to get the measuring cup, spoon, and strainer. How could anyone resist those smiles?

Jazlyn really got into the stir and mixing part. Though she did say "Ewwww" to the chunks of milk in the vinegar. Sophie is prepared. Double hero-ing it up with Supergirl and Batgirl on.

The conclusion to this experiment is it was a little bit of a flop for us. One, don't use skim milk. It really doesn't work well for the bonding properties. Two make sure to double check your measurements of material. I believe we might have been off just a little bit. Three, that blob you see there next to the cookie cutter is our plastic. It really didn't want to meld together well. Fourth, last but most importantly make sure you capture of a photograph of you lab assistant, Chloe. She was a great help in this experiment and the one photograph I took got lost in a Lightroom clean up. That always makes me upset.  The little Einsteins enjoyed themselves and it was something new they learned.