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Verve’s Make Your Own Chocolate Kit is an excellent tool for
teachers and group leaders, suitable for use in the classroom as
well as informal learning environments. To make group activities
easier and more productive, we have created this Educational
Guide to the Make Your Own Chocolate Kit.
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1.
Guide to using the Make Your Own Chocolate kit with a group
Verve’s Make Your Own Chocolate Kit can be a terrific,
interactive classroom activity for a wide range of ages and
class sizes. We provide a sample lesson plan intended for grades
5 – 8, but the kit may be used with children from age 5 up, with
adult supervision. It has also been used to great effect with
high school home economics classes as a fun end-of-term project.
The Chocolate Kit relates to
many topics, including Mesoamerican history, rainforest ecology,
social sciences, geography, and more. We recommend using the kit
in conjunction with our sample lesson plan, or creating your own
lesson plan from the resources provided. Our “Resources” list
contains other lesson plans that may be adapted to use the Make
Your Own Chocolate Kit. To view the instructions and story that
come with the kit, go to the Make Your Own Chocolate Kit main
page. You may also find
The
Sweet Saga of Chocolate in our Education Section to be helpful.
Because this activity requires heat, a stove or microwave is
required. You will also need a glass bowl or double boiler,
spoons, pot holder, and a refrigerator if available; you may
also use extra ingredients such as nuts or fruit to make your
own personalized chocolate candies.
The Chocolate Kit makes approximately 25 pieces of chocolate, so
it is plenty for groups of up to 25 students. We recommend that
the teacher or group leader heat the ingredients, and allow the
students to help stir, temper, and add other ingredients to
their chocolates. Older students may be allowed to work in
groups to make the chocolate themselves, if appropriate.
2.
Sample Lesson Plan for Make Your Own Chocolate Kit
Grade Level:
5 - 8
Suggested Subject(s):
World History, Social Studies
Duration:
Introduction: Flexible – 30 minutes or more
Chocolate-Making Activity: 20 minutes
Clean-up and Assesment: 10 minutes
Description:
Students learn about Mesoamerican history in a unique way as
they explore the history of chocolate both as a crop and as a
food product. Also touches on issues of global trade, European
history, and natural resources.
Goals:
1) Students will understand the timeline of Mesoamerican history
and its major civilizations.
2) Students will learn about the source and origin of chocolate.
3) Students will learn about the cultural significance of
chocolate to Mesoamerican and European cultures.
4) Students will explore issues of world trade, the expansion of
food crops, and the significance of European colonialism from
the perspective of natural resources.
Objectives:
1) Students will make their own chocolate from scratch.
2) Students will understand the history and ecology of
chocolate, and will draw connections between historical events
and their own lives.
Materials:
1) World Map
2) Roll of long paper for timeline
3) Markers
4) Make Your Own Chocolate Kit
5) Double boiler or two bowls
6) Microwave or stove
7) Large spoon
Background:
The history of chocolate is in many ways the history of the
Americas. All of the great Mesoamerican civilizations were known
to have used cacao beans and to have consumed some form of
chocolate.
Olmecs: The first known group to grow the cocoa plant as a
domestic crop were the Olmec Indians of Southern Mexico, whose
civilization flourished from 1200 BC to 400 BC, and who are
thought to be the progenitors of later Mesoamerican
civilizations the Maya and Aztecs.
Maya: During the Mayan civilization (AD 250 – 900), cocoa beans
were consumed by most of the population, as an unsweetened cocoa
drink made from ground beans. This drink would not taste very
good to those of us used to chocolate today! The Mayans were the
first known society to have created cocoa plantations to grow
very large quantities of the crop. Elite Mayans drank their
chocolate from elaborate vessels, and chocolate played a role in
royal and religious events, even in marriage ceremonies.
Aztecs: The Aztecs copied the unsweetened liquid cocoa drink
from the Mayans, calling it “xocolatl” (pronouned “ho-co-la-tol”),
meaning “bitter liquid”. Xocolatl was made from cocoa beans,
water and sometimes, spicy peppers, vanilla, or other
flavorings. Montezuma, the last king of the Aztecs, was known to
have drunk as many as 50 pitchers of the drink a day! The Aztecs
told this legend about the origin of cocoa: Their god,
Quetzacoatl, brought the cacao tree from paradise to earth,
traveling on a beam of the Morning Star. He gave the tree as an
offering to the people, and they learned how to roast and grind
its beans into a paste. They believed that it brought wisdom and
knowledge to those who drank it.
Europeans: When the first Spanish soldiers came to the Mexico in
the 1500s, they found the Aztecs drinking xocolatl and brought
the drink back to Europe. Because Europeans found the liquid too
bitter, they added vanilla and sugar. The Spanish guarded the
secret of where this delicious drink came from, growing it on
plantations in their colonies. Drinking hot chocolate became
wildly popular in Europe. Chocolate as we know it came into
existence after 1828, when Dutch chemist Conrad Van Houten
invented the chocolate press, which separates raw cocoa into
cocoa butter and cocoa powder, making a much tastier finished
product. The rest, as they say, is history!
Cocoa has grown from being a small domestic crop grown by the
Olmecs in a region of Central America to a worldwide cash crop.
Annual cocoa production is now around 3 million tons, grown by 5
– 6 million cocoa farmers on four continents (North America,
South America, Africa and Asia).
Procedure:
Discuss this history with your students. Have your students
create a timeline beginning with the Olmecs and continuing
through the present day. Chart the history of chocolate both as
a crop and as a food product throughout the years. Have your
students research more about the history of chocolate (using the
linked websites as resources) and add this information to the
timeline. Using a world map, have the students chart the places
where cocoa has historically been grown and consumed. Using
different colors for different time periods, chart the changes
in where cocoa has been grown and consumed worldwide.
Explain the Aztec myth to your students. Have the students think
about the cultural significance of chocolate to the Aztecs. Ask
them whether chocolate has always been eaten and used and
thought about in the same way throughout history. Why might the
Aztecs consider chocolate to be a gift from their gods?
Now tell your students that they are going to see firsthand how
chocolate is made from the raw ingredients cocoa butter, cocoa
powder and sugar. Explain that cocoa butter and powder are the
fats and the solids, respectively, of the cocoa plant. Using the
Make Your Own Chocolate Kit, have the students work in teams of
5 to make their own chocolate according to the instructions.
Alternately, the teacher may do all of the steps involving heat
and have the students take turns helping to stir. Give each
student a paper liner and have them place things – nuts,
raisins, marshmallows, etc. in it to their liking, then spoon
the warm chocolate in on top to make their own piece of candy.
Assessment:
Have the students write their own modern-day myths about the
origin of foods they enjoy. Use the Aztec myth of chocolate as a
jumping-off point. As a class, discuss the significance of myths
and why ancient cultures told myths to understand their world.
Resources and adaptable lesson plans:
http://www.karachocolates.com/WebServlet?option=history&page=ChocolateThroughTheYears
Good information on the history and ecology of the cacao bean,
and the method of processing chocolate.
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/education_pdf/cc_lesson5.pdf
A lesson plan on the process of manufacturing chocolate. Very
appropriate paired with the “Make Your Own Chocolate Kit”
activity.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/exploring_chocolate/index.html
Index of chocolate topics on the Exploratorium website.
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/education.cfm?id=third_l4
Includes linked lesson plans on rainforests, their human
inhabitants, and the foods they produce. Excellent lesson on the
Chachi Indigenous group and their cultivation of cocoa. Great
resources, including firsthand stories of kids who live in
cocoa-producing rainforest areas.
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceMDChangeMatterChocolate57.htm
A lesson that uses chocolate-making to demonstrate the phases of
matter, excellent for use with the Make Your Own Chocolate Kit.
3. Tips
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Please read through all instructions before beginning.
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Allow students to observe the cocoa beans and explain that the
cocoa powder and cocoa butter are the solids and the oils
separated out from the cocoa bean.
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Check with parents to make sure all children are allowed to
eat the final product.
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If the chocolate seems to be taking a long time to cool, the
temperature indicator is not broken – it simply won’t read any
temperature outside of its range. Place the chocolate in the
refrigerator for short amounts of time and keep a close eye on
its temperature.
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Have fun!
