S’more Summer Homeschool

S’mores Sweet Learning

Homemade marshmallows are surprisingly easy to make, and so delicious you might never want to go back to store bought! There is a lot of mixing required, so younger helpers that can hold a hand mixer steady for a short time can easily take turns helping. Just be aware that your mixture will be hot, and require adult supervision for the stove time and pouring. If you’d like to make marshmallows without gelatin, you can try this recipe using agar powder instead. You can buy agar powder at most large grocery chains, international grocery stores, and online.

This marshmallow STEM activity is great for a wide age range of students, and can be used to teach and reinforce a variety of concepts from simple shapes and numbers to engineering basics, geometry, physics, and more. I’d recommend using store bought marshmallows for this activity–they won’t get as sticky with handling, and you can easily have plenty on hand as imaginations run wild!

These five chocolate experiments are a great way to enjoy a sweet science lesson. Choose from experiments and activities like forming an emulsion, rescuing seized chocolate, creating holographic chocolate, and experimenting with melting chocolate. These activities are generally appropriate for children ages five and older, but giving littles different kinds of chocolate chips to count or sort is a fun way to include them in the summer homeschool fun.

Take advantage of the hot summer days before they’re gone by building your own s’mores solar oven. A homemade solar oven is a classic science experiment requiring only a few basic household supplies, and s’mores are a great way to test one out since you aren’t cooking anything that needs to reach a specific temperature to be safe or tasty.

You can’t go wrong with a classic chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker s’more, but if you’re feeling creative–or want to celebrate the end of summer with a DIY s’mores bar–check out these fifteen creative s’mores recipes and go crazy!