Note: This post contains affiliate links. You may read my disclosure here.
Calling all chocolate milk lovers! This is a magical STEAM activity that will become your family’s new chocolate milk ritual. We first did this activity almost 5 years ago – in February 2021 (see my original Instagram reel below), and my kids still do this trick EVERY.SINGLE.TIME they make chocolate milk!
I first saw this activity on Steve Spangler‘s instagram. I knew my kids would love it, so I filmed the first time we did the activity, and shared it in a reel on Instagram. It is one of my most popular reels with thousands of views! Check it out for yourself here:
You might be wondering why I’m sharing the blog post now when I made a video of the activity over 5 years ago… I was looking for the blog post of this activity to share in my “Keep your Finger Dry in Water using Cinnamon” post (both activities demonstrate hydrophobic powders). I couldn’t find it, and I realized I only made the Instagram reel and never shared it on the blog! This activity checks all my boxes for a perfect STEAM activity (easy, low prep/mess, and FUN), so it deserves a permanent spot on the blog too. So here we are! 🙂
Every time my kids make chocolate milk it becomes a magic show. They dip their spoon filled with cocoa powder into the milk again and again until it has all fallen in the milk. They stir vigorously to mix the chocolate powder into the milk and then they have a delicious drink!
When kids do this activity, making chocolate milk is as much fun as drinking the chocolate milk! I attribute this activity to my kids learning to make chocolate milk independently at a young age. My older kids were 5 and 3 when I first introduced the activity to them and they’ve been making chocolate milk themselves ever since then!
My youngest (currently 3 years old) never drank chocolate milk before we did this activity for this post. Now she loves making chocolate milk too!
We already had a video of this activity on Instagram, so I also added a video with step by step instructions for the activity on YouTube! Sometimes it’s easier to see how to do the activity with a video rather than the photos or words, so please check it out below to watch how we did the activity from start to finish!
Activity Overview:
This activity is for kids who love to drink chocolate milk. They will have as much fun making the chocolate milk as drinking it. They’re also learning about the hydrophobic properties of cocoa powder. This activity is recommended for kids ages 3+.
Materials:
- Chocolate or Cocoa Powder (any kind you like – we used Nesquik)
- Milk (cow, almond, oat, soy all work)
- Small Cup
- Spoon
Safety:
I recommend setting down a table cloth or place mat before beginning this activity to protect your surface from messes and spills. Have towels on hand, so if cocoa powder or milk spills you can clean it up quickly to prevent slips and falls.
Advise young kids not put the spoonful of cocoa powder into their mouth dry – this could cause coughing or choking. Be aware of food allergies before beginning the activity. All kinds of milk (cow, soy, almond, oat, etc.) will work with this activity so pick the kind that works best with your family’s preferences.
Procedure:
- Fill a cup about 3/4 full with milk.
- Scoop a heaping spoonful of cocoa powder onto the spoon.
- Holding the spoon horizontally the whole time (to keep the cocoa powder from falling off the spoon into the milk), dip the spoon into the milk until it is fully submerged.
- Pull the spoon out of the milk. The powder should still be dry!
- If the powder has a layer of wet chocolate over the top, gently touch it with your finger tip and it will magically pull back – revealing the dry powder underneath.
- Repeat again and again until all the chocolate powder has fallen into the milk (a little powder will fall in each time you dip the spoon in).
- Once all the cocoa powder is in the milk, vigorously stir it into the milk to create chocolate milk. Take a sip and enjoy!
We think chocolate milk tastes better when it’s made with “magical” science, what do you think?
STEAM Concepts Learned:
The cocoa powder is hydrophobic, meaning it repels water. The milk has a high water content. When the cocoa powder is dipped in the milk in a big pile on the spoon it is able to repel the water.
You are later able to dissolve the cocoa powder into the milk because stirring it in a creates a suspension of the chocolate in the milk (it’s not dissolved in the milk – it’s floating in there). That’s why you might have to re-stir your chocolate milk if you take too long to drink, or when you’re done drinking you see a layer of cocoa in the bottom of the cup.
Even though my kids never stopped doing this trick when they made chocolate milk, they didn’t make it often. But ever since I did the activity with them again recently to take these photos for this blog post, they have requested to make chocolate milk almost daily again.
My kids don’t drink a lot of milk, so I’m ok with adding a spoonful of chocolate to encourage them to drink milk more often to get the calcium and protein their growing bodies need.
This activity makes learning a science concept (how hydrophobic powders repel water) magical and fun! I find it easier to learn something when it’s made interesting, so hopefully this is a concept that will stick with my kids as they grow. At minimum they learned a fun party trick. 😉
Have you tried this activity before? Do you remember my original reel from years ago? Hopefully you’ll try this activity with your kids and make it part of your chocolate milk making experience like we do!
