Get Set Jellies Activity

Get Set Jellies Activity Card Uncle Astro loves jelly. His favourite fruit is pineapple. Cosmic and Gem have made a pineapple jelly for his birthday. Normally they use tinned pineapples but, because it is a special day, this time they have used big chunks of fresh juicy pineapple. Now it is time to enjoy some lovely, wibbly, wobbly jelly. Uncle Astro laughs with excitement as he tips the bowl over to let the jelly drop out. Oh no! The jelly hasn’t set! Cosmic Uncle Astro Gem Uncle Astro laughed! “How fascinating! I wonder if it has something to do with the pineapple? We need to do some investigating. I think a little chemistry might help.” Your challenge Find out if the fresh pineapple could have stopped Uncle Astro’s jelly setting. Discuss Talk about how to make jelly. Think about what might have stopped the jelly setting. How will you decide if the fresh pineapple stopped the jelly setting? What tests can you do to find out why the jelly didn’t set? How will you make sure that your test is fair and safe? What will you observe or measure in each of your tests?

Getting started Some other investigators have had a few ideas to get you started: Why don’t we try making the same jelly with and without pineapple? I think we could use fresh, frozen and tinned pineapple. I think we could try using different amounts of fresh pineapple. What will you do? Test your ideas Which jellies set and which ones did not? Is there a problem when you use fresh pineapple? Does it make a difference if the pineapple comes from a tin or has been frozen?` You might want to make a table like the one below to compare the jellies. Jelly 1 – Fresh pineapple Jelly 2 – Tinned pineapple Jelly 3 – No pineapple What happened? Share your ideas Why not design a guide to show how knowing a little chemistry can help people to make very wibbly, wobbly fruit jelly. Extra things to do What happens if you use different fruit in your jellies? Try making small jellies to compare different fruit. Does it make a difference if you use tinned or frozen fruit? You could try apples, strawberries, raspberries, lemons, tangerines, kiwi fruit, fresh figs, mango, grapes, peaches and/or any other fruit that you like. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236