Virtual Chocolate Tours & Lesson Plans

I received some great information just in time for Valentine’s Day. I thought I would share it here.

For an in-depth lesson on chocolate, visit the Exploratorium website where you can indulge in “The Sweet Science of
Chocolate“.

And don’t miss Homefires’ “A Valentine’s Day Chocolate Curriculum“
by Fran Wisniewski with all kinds of links to the history and
science of chocolate along with chocolate literature suggestions,
movies and videos about chocolate, and some fun chocolate
activities — great for you unit-study folks!

We’ve also put together lots of fun chocolate learning activities
for little ones.

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS TO CHOCOLATE FACTORIES:

Hershey’s Chocolate Factory

At this site you get 2 options for a virtual tour of the Hershey’s
Chocolate Factory — you can take a tour through text and photos, or
you can take a video tour. Learn all about chocolate from cocoa bean
to candy bar. Hershey maintains an amazing factory town in Hershey,
Pennsylvania that you can visit in real time.

Scharffen Berger Dark Chocolate Factory

This site provides a virtual tour of the dark gourmet chocolate
factory in
Berkeley, California through photographs and text. Learn about the
history
of the company and chocolate production.

Scharffen Berger offers free public tours and private groups tours
of the
chocolate factory.

Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour

Cadbury offers an animated virtual tour of their chocolate making
process
that includes how they make their famous chocolate Easter eggs and
chocolate bars.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory

Ghirardelli provides a short but terrific photo-and-text tour of the
chocolate making process from bean to bar. If you are ever in San
Francisco you can visit their flagship store and soda fountain at
Ghirardelli Square (near Fisherman’s Wharf).
At the store you can see the original chocolate making equipment in
operation.

CocoaPro.com

Really, this is the best site on the net about chocolate — could it
be I feel that way because they list the health benefits of
chocolate? Learn all about the antioxidant properties of chocolate
while watching fabulous videos of the history of chocolate, how it’s
made (from bean to bar), the sustainability of cocoa farming in the
rainforest, and play an interactive game featuring the favorite
cocoa drink of Aztec warriors.

Information provided by Diane Flynn Keith for Virtual Field Trips