Recently we made homemade butter. Stuart looked at me funny when I told him what we had done that day. He said, “You did what?”
Yep, homemade butter.
I talked to Nicholas a little bit about how butter is made. I explained that basically you start with heavy cream and mix it up until it becomes butter. The cream is full of little fat globules but they are all separate and lonely. Once the mixing starts, fat globule Bob bumps into fat globule Joe and they become friends so they stick together. As more mixing happens, they bump into fat globule Mike and fat globule Tom and they all decide to stick together. The little group of friends keep bumping into more fat globules until everyone is stuck together and they have a big party. And then you have butter. Nicholas loved the story and couldn’t wait to start mixing up some cream.
Making Butter at Home with Kids
All we used were some clean baby food jars, a few glass marbles, heavy whipping cream, music, and manpower.
Nicholas started with filling the jars about 3/4 full of cream.
He added two marbles to help with mixing and put the lid on. I double checked to make sure that the lid was on REALLY tight.
Then we put on some fun music and we danced around while we shaking the jars. It doesn’t really matter how you shake them or how hard you shake them but you need to keep them moving.
It’s best to do this with two people so you can trade off and let your arm rest. After 5 minutes, he had a nice whipped topping.
Then around 10 minutes, we could hear a more distinct “thud” sound as a ball of butter was now shaking around in the jar. There was still a lot of liquid that we drained off but in the end we had real butter. It tasted fine right out of the jar but we added a pinch of salt just to make it better.
It was yummy on crackers for an after school snack and would be a great activity or treat to have while camping or traveling. Check out our KOACampfire community for more ideas of things to do and ways to entertain kids while outdoors.
About Kim
We love making butter as part of our farm breakfast during farm week.
Back in the day, when I had an after school restaurant job – I used to make fresh butter for the house made sourdough buns. I can taste them right now.
I think my young niece and nephew would appreciate this recipe. Their dad owns a few restaurants and they definitely have the foodie bug in them.
We just made butter this week! Reese LOVED the fact that it was his creation…we pressed our butter into mini-cookie cutters so his was a bird-shaped pat of butter!
This is one of my favorite things to do with kids (right up there with making ice cream by rolling the ball-shaped ice cream maker around). But I have to say, your story about the fat globules bumping up against each other and making friends is genius! I’ll definitely be incorporating that the next time I make butter with kids.
For a not-as-fun-but-equally-yummy way of making butter: Throw cream in a food processor, turn it on, set timer for 15 minutes, make some biscuits, come back when timer is finished, slather said biscuits with fresh sweet cream butter. Delish!
Homemade butter is on my to do list. I can’t wait to be able to go to the farm to get some raw milk and separate the cream to use that for the butter. I can taste it!
What a great idea to do with kids! Love it!
I love it! I still remember doing this in the 3rd grade when we read the Laura Engles Wilder (sp.?) series. Super fun, thanks for reminding me of a great family activity to do together! Just stopping by from the Sundae Scoop link up and I’m glad to share on Twitter!
Your little one is just adorable. This is a great activity for a child, and a lot of fun for adults as well! Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you are having a great week end and come back soon!
Miz Helen
When my oldest was in 1st grade, they made butter with the whole class taking turns shaking, as part of their Thanksgiving feast. That was when I learned what buttermilk is. Lol I think I’ll have to try this with my kids, they’d love it.
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