Lab Reflection – Pancake Art

Out of all the labs we did in November, December, and January, the lab I decided to reflect on was the pancake art lab. I chose to reflect on this because in my opinion, it was one of the most fun labs we’ve done so far. To make them, we made basic pancake batter and then divided it up into different bowls and added food colouring. Then we put the batter into squeeze bottles and made the pancakes into our own designs. This was fun to me because it let us be creative. For my pancake art, I made a Christmas tree, the letter G, a donut, and a heart. The pancakes turned out better than I was expecting, since I’ve tried to make pancake art at home before and it usually never works. I think because this batter was a bit thinner it made it easier to pour out. Also, it was a good idea to make the designs before turning on the heat, because then it doesn’t start to cook before the pancake design is done. They tasted pretty good although I ate them a while later because I was in a rush to leave, so they might not have tasted as good as they would’ve been warm. I also think our group should’ve used a little bit less salt. However, even though this lab was fun, there were some things that could’ve been done better. Each pancake had to be done separately, or at least we thought so when we started, so it took a long time for each person to make theirs. This made us have lots of time standing around. In this time, we could’ve started cleaning up and washing dishes instead of not doing anything. Our group worked well together that day, but we made a mess with the pancake batter, so it was more work to clean up. There was also lots of leftover batter which ended up having to be thrown out because there wasn’t any time to make more pancakes with it. This was probably because it was in a colour that no one needed to use a lot of. We did share colours between groups, but I think we could’ve shared even more. We could make only colours that another group hasn’t already made (unless you need a lot of a colour) and then share them all. Because of the time it took to make the pancakes, I think that almost every group was late to leave the class that day. Despite the minor issues, this lab was really fun and I think it would be cool to do at home with friends another time.