Tasting Space

Odd title, right? 

We are finishing up our Space unit in science this week and I wanted to end it with some fun food activities.

The first activity was about Earth.

We reviewed facts we had learned and read a book about Earth.

The goal of this activity was to teach the three main layers of Earth.

First, we put a gumdrop on a popsicle stick to represent the core.

Step one- successful. 

Next we took a rice crispy treat to represent the mantle.

This was perfect because we talked about how the mantle layer is so hot that it is squishy.

The kids had to flatten the rice crispy treat and then wrap it around the core (gumdrop).

Then we took chocolate graham crackers and broke them into crumbs in a baggie.

The final step was for the kids to roll the mantle in the crumbs to represent the crust, the thinest layer.

They were so excited to eat the Earth once they had finished.

I made them wait till after lunch :)

The next day we read:

This was a great fiction book to read and compare and contrast with a non-fiction book about the moon.


Each student started out with a white paper plate and two oreos.

We labeled the four main phases of the moon on our plates.

This activity turned into a disaster.  I thought that each child having two oreos would be plenty to make the four phases of the moon, well I was wrong....

All of the oreos broke and one student ate all of his cream and only had cookies left, oh my.

It all turned out great in the end.

I'm sure my second graders would say that eating the oreos at the end was the best part!

I think I learned some lessons while doing these two activities with 21 second graders.

Hopefully these hands on activities will help my kids learn the facts!