Fruity Ice Slush

Did you know you can make your own delicious slush drink without a freezer? This is the ideal experiment to do on a hot summer day when all you want to eat is something freezing cold and delicious. With lots of those days up ahead, we hope you really enjoy this tasty slushy science!

I pulled this idea from one of our favorite experiment books, 50 Science Things to Make & Do. I love this book because it contains tons of simple science ideas with easy-to-follow instructions. Even my four-year-old can do many of the experiments on his own :)

Total Time: About two hours.
Difficulty: With just a few ingredients and some simple stirring, this is one of our safest and easiest experiments yet!

Materials You Need:
Mixing Bowl
Ice
3 Tbsp. Salt
Fruit Juice (any variety should work just fine)
Spoon

Directions:

• Fill your mixing bowl with ice.
• Add the salt and stir it in.
• Place a glass upright in the middle of the ice and fill it halfway with juice.
• Stir the juice every 10 minutes for about an hour and a half.
• Stir it every 5 minutes for another half hour until it turns slushy.
• Eat and enjoy!

Print These Instructions

Our Fishing for Ice experiment and Easy Homemade Ice Cream involve the same science that makes the fruit drink in this experiment turn from liquid to solid without the aid of a freezer. When you add salt to ice it lowers the freezing point, making the salty icy mixture colder than ice alone. If you have a thermometer you can verify this fact. Ice freezes at 32°F, but when you add salt the ice melts and the mixture gets down to around 0°F. This is cold enough to freeze juice! Stirring the juice frequently ensures that the frozen parts mix with the liquidy parts, making a yummy slushy mix. If you leave your juice long enough it will freeze solid! Maybe next time we will try making our own popsicles this way...