Today's Tip for Families

[En español]

2026-04-19

Use Cooking to Teach Science

The time you spend in the kitchen can also be a time for you to connect and learn with your child. Here’s a fun and easy science experiment you and your elementary schooler can do together. You’ll need ground black pepper, dish soap, a bowl and some toothpicks.

Fill the bowl with water. Sprinkle a little pepper on top. Have your child dip a toothpick into the center of the pepper. What happens? Not much. Next, have your child put a drop of dish soap on a toothpick and then dip it into the center of the pepper. What happens? The pepper moves quickly to the sides of the bowl. This is because the soap breaks the surface tension of the water.

Brought to you by:

West Point Consolidated School District

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