I have a fun chocolate unit study. Also, look at my Meso-America and Rain Forest Amazon page to learn how chocolate comes from the cacao tree of the rain forest. Also, grab more ideas on my Best Homeschool Unit Studies page.
Interest-led studies can be delicious as well as educational, like this chocolate unit study which is really appealing.
I don’t know many kids who are not interested in chocolate so I thought that it would make a tasty unit.
There is much to be learned about the history, geography, and math of chocolate.
It is also quite easy to work in some reading, writing, practical life skills, and more.
Just check out all the chocolate ideas I have below for you.
For the main activity, kids will create their own candy bar combos, name them, and create a wrapper to cover them in.
5 Chocolate Facts
Next, here are a few facts about chocolate.
- Unlike the solid chocolate of today, early civilizations consumed cocoa in the form of a bitter drink.
- Technically milk chocolate isn’t actually chocolate, due to the absence of cocoa solids.
- Milk chocolate originated in Jamaica in the form of a milk-based drink.
- Hershey’s earned their first million producing caramel candies before focusing on perfecting their chocolate bar.
- More than 60% of the world’s cocoa comes from just 2 countries- Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Then look at some of these books.
Books for Creating a Chocolate Unit Study
Add some of these books to learn about how chocolate is made.
This book is intended for children who love chocolate and stories.
Discover the exciting story of one of the most popular foods in the world: ''CHOCOLATE'' .This book will take you in the footsteps of the Aztecs who considered it a sacred drink. Later, the Conquistadors will bring it to Spain where it will become THE trendy ''EXOTIC DRINK''. Reserved for kings and nobility, and at first consumed only in the sumptuous palaces, but much later becoming a popular food for all.
In How Monkeys Make Chocolate renowned ecologist Adrian Forsyth introduces the people, plants, and animals of the world’s rain forests through exciting first-hand stories and stunning color photographs. He visits aboriginal shamans and imitates the behavior of animals to tap into the inner workings of various rain forests, revealing a world of riches with unsuspected connections to everyday life. His adventures expose the amazing origins of familiar products, including chocolate, cola, aspirin, and rubber, and offer tantalizing glimpses of the discoveries yet to be made. With visual force and vivid anecdotes, Forsyth instills a deep wonder for the web of life and the importance of conserving these fragile ecosystems.
Discover the man behind the chocolate bar! Milton Hershey’s life was filled with invention and innovation. As a young man, he was not afraid to dream big and work hard. Eventually, he learned the secret to mass-producing milk chocolate and the recipe that gave it a longer, more stable shelf life. He founded a school for those who didn’t have access to a good education and an entire town for his employees. Both his chocolate empire and his great personal legacy live on today.
In this zany twist on the legend of King Midas and his golden touch, a boy acquires a magical gift that turns everything his lips touch into chocolate! Kids will eat this up for summer reading or anytime!
Can you ever have too much of your favorite food? John Midas is about to find out….
The Chocolate Touch has remained a favorite for millions of kids, teachers, and parents for several generations. It's an enjoyable story that pulls in even reluctant readers.
A delicious story about the history of chocolate with wonderful illustrations.
Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
Everyone loves chocolate, right? But how many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it’s made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist?This delectable dessert comes from cocoa beans, which grow on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. But those trees couldn’t survive without the help of a menagerie of rain forest critters: a pollen-sucking midge, an aphid-munching anole lizard, brain-eating coffin fly maggots—they all pitch in to help the cocoa tree survive. A secondary layer of text delves deeper into statements such as "Cocoa flowers can’t bloom without cocoa leaves . . . and maggots," explaining the interdependence of the plants and animals in the tropical rain forests. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels.Back matter includes information about cocoa farming and rain forest preservation, as well as an author’s note.
Also, look at some of these interactive resources about chocolate.
Interactive Activities to Learn About Chocolate
Watch every step of the process in this YouTube How Chocolate is Made.
History Channel- The Food That Built America Season 2 Episode 2- This episode covers Milton Hershey and his competition, a former employee you may have heard of- HB Reese, and yet another famous candy bar maker.
Then host a chocolate taste test. I don’t think you can have a chocolate unit study without a good taste test.
This is a great opportunity to offer small amounts of a lot of chocolate products from cacao nibs to Hershey Kisses, here are a few ideas on the different ways chocolate is served to get you started.
- Hershey bar
- Hershey Kisses
- Cocoa powder
- Chocolate milk
- Other chocolate candies
- Cacao beans or nibs
Work in geography- Research locations that are important to the history of chocolate.
Too, add some science 3 Fun Cocoa Winter Hands on Science Activities.
Have your child locate some or all of the following places on a map.
Geography of Chocolate
- Mexico- Here is where chocolate began its 4,000-year history, in ancient Mesoamerica, which is now known as Mexico.
- Amazon Rain Forest – The earliest known use of cacao traces back to the Amazon Basin in the northeast corner of present-day Ecuador. Also, investiage how the cacao tree grows.
- Hershey, Pa.-Unarguably the chocolate capital of the United States. Here is where Milton Hershey realized his dream and created an entire town and theme park around his passion for chocolate.
- Switzerland is well known for its delicious chocolate. Cacao beans and sugarcane are sourced elsewhere but Swiss chocolate is made only in Switzerland. It is described as a very creamy chocolate due to its higher milk-to-cacao ratio than other chocolates.
- Brussels Belgium-Known as the ‘Chocolate Capital of the World’, it is rich in chocolate shops, there are more chocolate shops here than in any other place in the world. You will also find the Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat (Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate) here.
- Jamaica– This is where milk chocolate originated from in the form.
Design your own chocolate bar label. This gives kids a chance to be creative while they learn about advertising, work on handwriting, and take ownership of the project.
All they need is some copy paper, crayons, or colored pencils and a great idea for their chocolate bar “brand”.
You can use these to wrap around their DIY chocolate bars and then have a vote on who created the most appealing label.
History of Chocolate
Chocolate changes shape.
Chocolate is probably best known in solid or bar form, but it wasn’t always this way.
For more than 90% of its history, chocolate was consumed only as a beverage.
The Maya made it into a spicy drink.
And that they used in ceremonies.
Among the ancient Maya, chocolate was enjoyed by rich and poor.
It was a favorite of Maya kings and priests and chocolate played a special part in royal and religious ceremonies.
When ancient Maya aristocrats served chocolate drinks, they used lavishly decorated vessels made by specially trained artists.
Science of the Cacao Tree
Chocolate is made from the seeds of a rainforest tree called Theobroma cacao (kah KOW).
Cacao trees have flourished in Central and South America for thousands of years, long before people knew what luscious possibilities they held.
Wild cacao trees grow up to 30 feet (9 meters) tall beneath a canopy of taller trees.
The canopy trees protect cacao from tropical sun, wind damage, and moisture loss.
Seeds pods grow not on the end of branches but directly off of the branches and trunk.
Each pod is about the size of a pineapple and holds thirty to fifty seeds.
Although cacao seeds are packed with nutritious oils, starches, and proteins that provide the energy a seedling needs to grow, they also contain caffeine and theobromine, giving them a bitter taste.
This bitter taste discourages animals like monkeys, rodents, and birds from eating cacao seeds.
So, the animals spit out the seeds.
This is an important element of the tree’s seed dispersal strategy. Cacao trees rely on these animals to spread their seeds along the rainforest floor.
Processing chocolate begins by extracting, fermenting, drying, and roasting the cacao seeds, removing the shell and skin, and leaving the tasty nibs.
Language Arts Chocolate Unit Study
Additionally, here are some language arts ideas.
Write these words and their definition.
The word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec word xocolatl (sho koh LAH tuhl), which means “bitter water.”
- Cacao generally refers to the plant itself or the beans before processing.
- Chocolate is anything made from the beans.
- Cocoa means chocolate in a powdered form.
- Cacao bean is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao,
- Fermented – This process is called “sweating,” or fermentation, and is when the chocolate flavor develops in the beans.
Food Anatomy includes a wonderfully illustrated section on how chocolate is made from harvest to tempering.
Finally, make your own diy candy bar.
Chocolate Unit Study – Create Your Own Candy Bars
- Ingredients:
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Add-ins:
- Nuts
- Raisins
- Crushed peppermint
- Crushed pretzels
- Toffee pieces
- Crushed potato chips
- Sprinkles
- Small candies
- Crispy crushed bacon
- Dried fruit
- Small or crushed cereal
- Flavored extracts-almond, vanilla, peppermint, etc…
You will also need:
- Silicone candy bar mold
- Medium pot
- Medium-sized glass bowl
- Silicone scraper
First, lay out candy bar molds.
Sprinkle whatever add-ins you would like to have in the empty mold.
Add a few inches of water to a medium pot.
Set a bowl over the pan, be sure that it is not touching the water.
Add chocolate chips and oil to the bowl.
Heat over medium-high, stirring frequently until completely melted.
If using extracts, stir them in at this point, just before removing them from the heat.
Pour melted chocolate into the mold over toppings.
Use a spatula to smooth the back and scrape off any excess.
Place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes until hardened then carefully remove from mold.
Wrap in waxed or parchment paper and store in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
