Making Pop Rice

We went to see someone make pop rice today. A very instructive experience. I think the kids will enjoy this science lesson immensely. Watch the video and then ask the kids to research how each step in the process works.

Questions To Ask Your Kids
(1) What is used? Husked rice or unhusked rice?

(2) Why does heat cause popping?

(3) How does the man separate the popped rice from the black sand?

(4) How does the man separate the rice husks from the popped kernel of rice?

This short activity will teach your kids how to search for information - a critical learning skill.


Making Rice Wine
The next photo shows a rice wine distiller. The rice is cooked and then fermented in the blue pails. The liquid ferment is placed into the kettle on the right. Heat causes the alcohol to evaporate into the metal pipe leading into an urn filled with cold water. The alcohol condenses inside the pipe and comes out the tap at the base of the urn

Questions to Ask Your Kids

(1) Draw the cross-section of the apparatus above and clearly explain on the drawing what is happening inside the kettle, the pipes and the urn.

(2) Why does alcohol evaporate faster than water?

(3) Why does the alcohol turn back into a liquid when the pipes are cooled with cold water?


I wish I had brought Little Boy to Mekong Lodge earlier. There is no better way to learn the PSLE Science syllabus than watching these cottage industries at work. Firstly, the equipment is simple to understand. Secondly, seeing Science at work is vastly more effective learning than reading Science guidebooks.