Chocolate Recipes and Experiments for the Classroom

Writing Compare and Contrast Paragraphs Describing Chocolate

Provide each student with two different types of chocolate to taste and compare. I love using the Hershey Miniatures which contain the milk chocolate, special dark chocolate, Krackel, and Mr. Goodbar. The 40 ounce bag contains 135 miniature candy bars making them extremely economical for classroom use. Students open one candy at a time. They complete the chart by adding descriptive phrases explaining the chocolate. Tell students to describe the chocolate using phrases such as rich creamy texture, mildly sweet, silky smoothness, or crackly crunch. Encourage students not to use single words such as good, tasty, delicious. Once the two different types of chocolate are described, students turn their charts into paragraphs. The paragraph might have sentences such as... Hershey's Milk Chocolate has a rich creamy texture whereas the Krackel contains a wonderful crackly crunch.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am continually amazed at the kindness of people. While reading The Chocolate Touch my group of fourth graders wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies. Who wouldn't? There's nothing quite as good as hot out of the oven cookies. I asked the cafeteria staff if they would mind baking cookies if we got them ready. Their response was they would be happy to. Ironically, the tallest fellow in this photograph graduated from Johnson and Wales and is now a chef.

Experiment - Turning Solids to Liquids

We melted candy coating to illustrate the properties of solids and liquids. Students then spread melted chocolate coating on a graham cracker. When it cooled it turned back into a solid.

Chocolate Bowls

Another activity that can be done in the classroom is making chocolate bowls with balloons. I couldn't find photos from our project, but this video shows you how. Note: Have students use a Sharpie to write their names on the balloons before dipping them into the chocolate. This makes it easier for students to identify which basket belongs to them.