A TeacherLead Lesson on How to Make Butter

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A Teacher-Lead Lesson on How to Make Butter
Presented by Melody Mesina
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Learning OutcomesStudents will demonstrate an
understanding of the five senses by stating what
each sense is used for. Students will also
describe the changes that occur as the butter is
made. Illinois Learning Standards addressed
11.A.1a Describe an observed
event. 12.C.1b Compare large-scale physical
properties of matter (e.g., size, shape,
color, texture).
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Grade Level K-3

• Materials
• Heavy whipping cream
• Jar/container with lid
• Crackers
• Butter knife
• Book From Grass to Butter by Ali Mitgutsch

From Grass to Butter
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Procedures

• Read the book to the children.
• Show a Food Pyramid diagram and discuss the
  Dairy group.
• Introduce the five senses and discuss what each
  sense is used for.
• Ask How do you think we could make butter
  without using any machines?
• Invite the children to make homemade butter.

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...Continued

• Pour the heavy whipping cream in the
  jar/container. Provide enough jars/containers so
  that each table group has one. Make sure the
  jars are closed tightly.
• Have some children dip a finger in the teachers
  jar and feel the whipping cream.
• Ask children to describe the physical
  characteristics of the whipping cream. What is
  the color, is it solid or liquid, how does it
  feel? Also ask the children what they think will
  happen when we shake the cream.
• Explain that they will each take turns shaking
  the jar. Teach the children a song to sing as
  they take turns shaking.

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...Continued

• The song goes like this
• Shake, Shake, Shake! Make it butter. Mix that
  cream and air.
• Shake, Shake, Shake! Make it butter. Pass it
  over there.
• When they hear Pass it over there, the
  child who has the jar will pass it to the
  next child next to him, and so on.
• Tell the children to look and listen for changes
  as they shake the jar. Have them keep shaking
  the jars until they observe changes. Allow
  children to explain what they observe.
• Once the whipping cream has formed into a
  butter-like chunk, have children look inside the
  jar and again describe the physical
  characteristics of the new formed butter. Allow
  some children to feel it as well.

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Let's Taste the Butter!
After tasting the butter with crackers, ask How
is this homemade butter different from
store-bought butter? Does this taste like the
butter from the store? Do you think we could
make butter by stirring the cream for a long
time?
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A Brief Explanation
Air inside the jar mixes with the cream to
solidify the milk fat, producing what we call
butter. This butter is formed when the cream is
shaken.
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To view the lesson in progress and hear comments
from my mentor teacher and myself, click below
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Sources
Moomaw, S., Hieronymus, B. (1997). More than
magnets exploring the wonders of science in
preschool and kindergarten. St. Paul, MN
Redleaf Press.