high school

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.

1. Unlike the solid chocolate of today, early civilizations consumed cocoa in the form of a bitter drink.
2. Technically milk chocolate isn’t actually chocolate, due to the absence of cocoa solids.
3. Milk chocolate originated in Jamaica in the form of a milk-based drink.
4. Hershey’s earned their first million producing caramel candies before focusing on perfecting their chocolate bar.
5. More than 60% of the world’s cocoa comes from just 2 countries- Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Then look at some of these books.

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.