What do bath bombs, tablets (medicines, not ipads!) and many types of sweets have in common? Well, many of them are made in basically the same way. Dry powdered ingredients are mixed together and a small amount of the active ingredient (scent, medicine or flavour) is added. The mixture is combined with a liquid: just enough to make it stick together but not to make it wet. Then it’s pressed into a mould to make it the right shape. The whole manufacturing process for sweets & medicines is highly automated and utilises many skills, so it’s good for exploring job options, as well as discussing mixtures and reversible/irreversible changes.
Safety Note The promotion of prescription-only medicines to the public is strictly prohibited in the UK and Europe. Ensure that any examples discussed are ‘Over The Counter’ products only and ones that the pupils are already familiar with, eg children’s vitamin supplements, cold remedies & first aid products. A pupil’s prescription medicine must not be used as an example for others. Include a discussion about medicine safety – the importance of following dosage instructions even on something as common as paracetamol. The safety aspects of medicine packaging should be emphasised – active ingredients, dosage, storage, warnings, expiry dates.
Coming soon – video to explain how to make excellent bath bombs. The video is a 1-person mix that makes two small bombs, but the quantities are easily scaled up to make as gifts or to sell at the summer/Christmas fete.
Further activities
Design Technology – Make a press
History—British social history
English—writing information texts
SPAG & maths activities to come…
Wordsearch – a huge wordsearch of all the vital vocabulary from this session.
Crossword – Bumper crossword for lots of technical vocabulary after you’ve completed this session. The clues are in different forms: standard ‘clues’, code to break (A=1 B=2 C=3), mixed up letters to unscramble, fill in the words missing from the paragraph, and some words to just fit in & write your own clue. Plus, there’s a bonus word to find. Page 1 is the blank grid. Page 2 has initial letters for a bit of extra help. Solution is on p3.
Science At Home With Lisa 