Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

We finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a few months ago, and it is still being talked about in our home.  Over the past couple of months, I've come across some fun ways to include the book in our activities sessions, and had to revisit the book. 


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl

 


Imaginative Play
Anna over at The Imagination Tree shares a fun Willy Wonka activity found here.  She has some REALLY fun uses for play dough on her blog, and really goes all out.  We used her chocolate play dough recipe, along with some of the names of treats from the book to jump start our own little creativity session.

We started by making some of the classic treats from the book (everlasting gobstoppers, magic chewing gum,eatable marshmallow pillows, snozberries, etc.), and then they took off with their own creations.  I wish I would have written down the names that my crew came up with because they were fantastic! 


I had to add a square candy that looks round.  :)
I do wish that I would have had some sprinkles on hand, along with some candy cups.  We kept ours incredibly {simple}, and it kept us happily engaged for a couple of hours.  It is always fun for me to watch their creativity in action!  We'll definitely be revisiting this activity.


Kitchen Fun:

THEN I ran across these cookbooks.  Score!  They are written by Roald and Felicity Dahl, and are illustrated by Quentin Blake.  All of the recipes are inspired by foods mentioned in his books, and are hilarious to read.  I wish I could share one of the recipes without breaking copyright laws!  They are full of creativity and fun.

 
In Roald Dahl's Even More Revolting Recipes, there is a recipe for "Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight", a toffee and marshmallow ice cream topping.



Math/Science:
In the book, there is a nut room full of squirrels testing walnuts to see if they are bad or good.  It is here that the squirrels test Veruca Salt to see if she is a good nut or not.  We used peanuts instead of walnuts for a little math and science lab.  

First, we estimated how many peanuts we had.


 Then we counted, and counted by tens.



 Last, but not least, we sorted.  And analyzed.  And ate. 



Interesting Fact:
As a young school boy, Roald and his friends were busted for putting a mouse in the local candy shop's jar of gobstoppers (information found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_dahl).


Happy reading!

Emily

4 comments:

  1. What a fantastic idea for a play dough activity linked to Charlie and the Chocolate factory! I didn't realise that there are also Roald Dahl themed recipe books, they look like a great idea for children. Thank you so much for linking up with #kidsbookaweek I have pinned and will be sharing over the weekend x

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  2. So many great ideas. Charlie is one of all time favourite characters. Thanks, and found you through the link up.

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  3. Isn't Roald Dahl fantastic? I love the ideas you've come up with to help the book come to life. Those playdough creations look good enough to eat! :)

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  4. This looks like so much fun! I love the cookbook idea, as well. What a blast!

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