Fun with Food

There was a bit of fun happening in the kitchen at church on Sunday.  A few weeks ago I promised my Junior Soldiers (Bible Class for Kids run by TheSalvation Army) that we would make something yummy to take home.  Considering my class is made up of two 8 year old boys, I figured Worms in Dirt was perfect.  Unfortunately, one of my boys doesn’t like to eat “snakes” so I had to improvise a bit.  I suppose I should explain what we actually did.

How to Make Worms in Dirt

What did we use?

• 1 packet of Natural Confectionery Snakes (lollies)
• 1 packet Cadbury Chocolate Buttons
• 1 packet Plain Chocolate Tiny Teddies

What did we do?

First: we half-filled two sandwich size zip lock bags with Tiny Teddies and closed them up.  The boys really enjoyed the next part, which involved bashing the bag of biscuits with a rolling pin (but you can use anything big and heavy).  Keep bashing until the biscuits have turned to crumbs.  Then, put it aside while you deal with the chocolate.

Next: we emptied the packet of chocolate into a microwave safe bowl/ jug.  We microwaved the chocolate for 10-15 seconds at a time on a medium setting (at the end of each 10 second interval we took the bowl out of the microwave and stirred the chocolate before deciding if it needed more cooking time). 

Our's didn't quite look like this, but I forgot to take a photo so you can use your imagination.  

Then: we put our worms in the dirt! I emptied the crushed biscuits onto a plate then I got the boys to thread the snake lollies onto skewers (just because it reduces the likelihood of messy fingers, it doesn’t eliminate it completely but it reduces it).  We dipped the snakes into the chocolate and rolled them in the crushed biscuits. 

Finally: when all the worms have been dunked and rolled, line them up on a new plate and place in the fridge to set (which usually takes about 10-20 minutes). 

Of course there were leftover bits, so we mixed the crushed Tiny Teddies into the remaining chocolate and spooned the mixture into cupcake papers.  J wanted to put a snake on top, and D didn't have anything on top.  I was going to put marshmallows in the mix as well, but I forgot them.  OOOPPPPS! 

While we waited for our “worms” to set in their “dirt” we washed up and played a game.  

Afterwards we talked about recipes and how cooking can be a disaster when you don’t use a recipe or you don’t follow the recipe.  The recipe tells you what to do and how to do it.  I told the boys that God gave us the Bible to help us know what He wants us to do and how He wants us to live.  I also mentioned how our lives can end up in quite a mess when we don’t read the Bible and follow the directions that God has given us. 

Then, D (the “I don’t eat snakes boy”) scribed, while we wrote out a “recipe” for how to look up a Bible passage.  J has been struggling with this process, so I thought if he could help produce the step by step guide he might remember it better.  We will see.  So, even at Bible Class we can have anchor charts! 

WOW, there was a lot you could get out of this post.  A recipe for Worms in Dirt, a timely reminder to read your Bible AND an educational principle (use anchor charts and get the kids to help create them).  I’m so smart and now you are too!

;)