Mason Jar Whipped Cream

Whip liquid cream into a solid with this easy and delicious kitchen science activity!

  • Easy
  • Not Messy
  • 15 Minutes
  • Indoor

You Will Need

  • 1 cup cold heavy cream or whipping cream

  • 1 pint mason jar

  • 1-2 tsp powdered sugar, or maple syrup - to your taste

  • ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)

  • Stopwatch (optional)

Directions

  1. Ask your kiddo to make a few observations about the ingredients. What do they notice?
  2. Add all of the ingredients to the mason jar. Tightly screw on the lid. Ask your young scientist how long they think it will take to transform the liquid into fluffy whipped cream, and set a stopwatch to find out.
  3. Shake vigorously for 1-3 minutes. (The time it takes to whip will depend on how vigorously you shake!) Take turns shaking the jar with your young scientist. Open the jar about once a minute to observe what’s going on in there. Continue to shake until you stop hearing the “sloshing” sound.
  4. Open the jar and spoon out the yummy whipped cream! (Go ahead, share a scoop together in the name of science!)
  5. Take a minute to observe the finished whipped cream. How has it changed since it was shaken? How did that happen?

Experiment Extensions

  • What happens if you try adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder… think you can make chocolate whipped cream? Try it!
  • What happens if you leave out the sugar and vanilla and just keep shaking - you’ll eventually make butter. Try it!

How it works

Cream is a "colloid." A colloid is a mixture of one substance spread out evenly inside another substance, and each substance can be in different states of matter (solid, liquid, or gas.)

In this case, little solid droplets of fat are suspended throughout the liquid milk. When you first start shaking the jar, millions of little air bubbles are shaken into the liquid cream. If you stop shaking after about 45 seconds, the bubbles will pop and it will go back to just being a liquid, so keep shaking!

Over time, all that shaking causes the outer membranes of the fat droplets to get stripped away, allowing them to stick together around the air bubbles. Eventually, with enough shaking, all of the liquid cream gets whipped into a delicious solid. Enjoy!

Key Words

Colloid
A colloid is a mixture of one substance spread out evenly inside another substance, and each substance can be in different states of matter (solid, liquid, or gas).