Read on and look on to see what we did AND to find even more chocolately goodness (in the form of resources for learning about chocolate).
We started each day with a cup of hot chocolate with little floating marshmallows, how else?
Social Studies/History/Geography:
Because cacao trees grow in places within 20 degrees of the equator, we learned a lot about rainforests, especially the Brazilian rainforest and its Amazon River.
We watched videos and read about the layers of the rainforest, even sketching out our own rendition:
We learned all about cacao trees, cacao pods, and the process of turning those football-sized pods into what we now as chocolate. We read about the Mayas and Aztecs involvement with chocolate and charted its journey from the Americas to Europe.
In doing so, we read about Milton Hershey, Henri Nestle, and John Cadbury.
Reading:
Having already read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling (both of which I recommend), we found another choco-centric book like:
Memory-making:
We learned about different kinds of chocolate: dark chocolate with high cacao precentages, milk chocolate, and white chocolate, which we learned can't be considered a chocolate at all.
And, of course, what kind of chocolate unit study would be complete without SAMPLING all the chocolately goodness. We ate more than a fair share of Cadbury Mini Eggs,
Hershey's Chocolate Bar,
Lindt Lindor Truffles,
and Nestle's Milk Chocolate Syrup for glasses of creamy chocolate milk.
We visited the local Ghirardelli Chocolate Outlet and Ice Cream Shop:
Games:
We laughed it up playing a Cadbury Machine Chocolate Game.
Aidyn and I enjoyed this chocolate unit study and wish we could've spent even more time delving into the rich history of chocolate. I highly recommend Amanda Bennett's Chocolate Challenge Unit Study, if you would rather not piece it together yourself.
If you'd like to take you chocolate adventures further, check out these fun links to more chocolately goodness:
Thank you for reading and following along with our adventures with chocolate!
