The Magic School Bus Baked in a Cake

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Field Trip Notes
Whoops! It's Ms. Frizzle's birthday, and the kids are planning a surprise - but they've forgotten the cake. A field trip to a bakery seems like the perfect solution. The kids accidentally get shrunk to ingredient size, but still manage to make cake batter and learn about chemistry in the process. Then the baker pours them into the cake pan along with the batter. The Bus is getting baked! Can what they've learned about chemistry save the Magic School Bus kids?

Pretzel Chemistry

Going Hands-On

Is it baking — or is it chemistry? Ms. Frizzle's class learns that baking is like doing a chemistry experiment. Your kids can make chemistry happen as they follow this recipe for pretzels. You or another adult can help groups of four to eight kids bake batches of pretzels. If you do not have access to an over, make the dough with children and let them carry portions home in plastic bags to make with their families.

What You Need

• Copies of PRETZEL CHEMISTRY page
• Utensils and ingredients from the recipe
• An oven

Talk About It

As you follow the recipe, encourage children to talk about the changes they observe, and ask:

What To Do

1. What happens when you add yeast and honey to the warm water? (The mixture makes bubbles)
2. What happens after you knead the dough and let it sit? (The carbon dioxide makes the dough rise.)
3. What happens to the pretzel shapes while they’re baking? (They get fatter.) 

Next Stop

Kids can put vinegar and baking soda in a soda bottle, and place a balloon over the top of the bottle. What happens?

Activity Plan 3-4: Sprouting Seeds
Children work in groups to grow their own sprouts.

Discovery Science
Children are natural inventors, taking delight in thinking, making, and doing. Our goal is to help them see science as a way to be active investigators in their world. For more information in enhancing children's learning experiences, follow the links to Using Discovery Charts and Journals, and Materials to Add to Your Discovery Center.

Activity Plan 5-6: Plant Detectives
Children discuss the importance and relevance of plants, and then create their own plants from clay.

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