How much sugar is in kid’s drinks?

Do you know how much sugar is in kid’s drinks? We set up an investigation to find out how the amount of sugar differs between common drinks.

We decided to calculate the amount of sugar in the full bottle or container rather than for the same amount of the drink as most people would drink a whole bottle, but as an alternative you could calculate the amount of sugar per 100ml or 200ml of each drink.

How much sugar is in children’s drinks?

Instructions

• Use the information on the side of the bottle to calculate how much sugar the drink contains.
• Weigh that amount of sugar.
• Compare the sugar found in different drinks.

Can you stack up sugar cubes of the same weight for a more visual representation.

How much sugar in Lucozade?

4.6g sugar per 100ml.

How much sugar is in Ribena?

The bottle we had contained 4.6g per 100ml.

How much sugar is in coke?

10.6 g per 100ml, this is about 7 teaspoons of sugar.

Can you turn this into a game and ask a friend to match the sugar to the drinks?

Are you surprised by how much sugar is in kid’s drinks?

Extension Tasks

Calculate how many cups of sugar you would need to drink to consume the same amount of sugar as one bottle of Ribena. We used this great balance from Learning Resources.

Can you make your own balance? We used this great K’nex levers and pulleys kit from The Consortium as a fun alternative.

Links to Maths

Measurement – Compare, describe and solve practical problems for mass/weight

                               – Measure and begin to record mass/weight

Does any drink contain ½ as much sugar as another?

More sugar investigations

Learn about how sugar cubes absorb water in this colourful investigation.

Find out what you can do to help keep your teeth healthy with this fun activity.

Investigate whether sugar dissolves in water, you could then try to dissolve sugar in oil, warm and cold water and compare the results.

Try some food sorting using hula hoops.

Suitable for Key Stage 1 Science

Animals and Humans

Describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.

Contains affilate links

Last Updated on January 29, 2021 by Emma Vanstone