Peep Nests and Peep Science

Peep Nests

This use of Peeps is not so exciting nor so entertaining as the Dueling Peep Microwave Battle, but it’s probably more socially acceptable .

Tips:

• You can’t possibly use too much butter. Butter your hands, spoons, everything (EVERYTHING). This is going to be messy.
• While it’s important to work quickly, you can let the Treats cool to a warm but comfortable temperature before working with them. Then be fast.
• The Kellogg’s Rice Crispy recipe seems to work really well for this. It calls for a higher Crispy-to-Mallow ratio than does the Marshmallow-Bag recipe  and that seems to work really well for shape retention.

DO save a few extra Peeps and DO have a Peep Battle. One of my son’s classmates came over and they had a (supervised) blast.  Unless you like cleaning plates with melted marshmallows cemented to them, I highly recommend staging the battle on graham cracker halves, and placing the Peeps on a bed of Peep Poop* before the battle begins. Upon removal from the microwave, top with another graham cracker half and enjoy.

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Science Lesson Of the Week

(How to Transform Peep Dueling into a Socially Acceptable Pastime)

When a marshmallow is heated (in the “heat of battle” as it were), it’s not the sugar that’s visibly expanding. It’s the air that has been whipped into the candy.

1. Air is made up of gas molecules.
2. The molecules are heated (with the microwave).
3. Heat is a form of energy.
   

   Image courtesy of britannica.com

4. If you give a child more energy (like sugar, which is stored energy), said child will bounce off the walls and make the most of his enclosure. Er, space.
5. If you give gas molecules (such as the air that’s been whipped into a Peep) more energy, they will do the same thing a child will:  bounce off the “walls” and make the most of their (in the case of the Peeps, stretchy) enclosure.

Follow  up question:  The air-filled spaces inside of a peep are stretchy and sealed. What would happen if you heat up air inside of a sealed, rigid container? **

Duel the Peeps. After all, it’s for science.

*Chocolate chips, for those of you who don’t have 8 year old boys in the house.

** Answer: Pressure will build up. If the pressure exceeds the strength of the container, the container will burst. Boom.