Little Miss Muffet – Curds and Whey

‘Little Miss Muffet Sat on her Tuffet Eating her Curds and Whey”

But what are curds? This experiment lets us milk turn into into a solid and make plastic milk so we shall find out!

How to make Curds and Whey for Little Miss Muffet

•skimmed milk

•white vinegar

•microwave proof bowl or a pan and hob

•strainer/sieve  

Method:

• 1. Add 4 teaspoons of white vinegar to one and half cups of skimmed milk.
• 2.Microwave the mixture for about a minute/ or heat over a stove to warm, or heat on the hob/stove
• 3. After a minute, the milk and vinegar will be separated into a liquid part (the whey) and the solid part (the curd)
• 4. Now, when you stir the milk, the solids become a “blobs.”
• 5. Strain the liquid off, you squeeze the blobs into one big lump. Squeeze out all the left over liquid.

Remember to ask an adult to help.

• 6. Let it cool off, and then you can play with it. It feels like rubber.

• You can form the blob into shapes. If you leave it out, it will harden. We called this plastic milk, but it’s not really plastic!

What are Curds and Whey?

Here’s what happened to the milk. By adding the vinegar, you created a chemical reaction which caused the milk to separate into two parts, a solid (the curds) and a liquid (the whey.)The protein in the curds is what makes it act like rubber.

This is a really simple experiment that gives you something very touchy and feely to do. It also makes a great sensory tool for little ones to play with. Have fun and let us know how your curds and whey turn out.

It you enjoyed this Little Miss Muffet activity, you’ll love our Humpty Dumpty and Incy Wincy Spider activities too!