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  • 1.  garden connections to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book

    Posted 02-25-2025 09:47:00 PM
    Has anyone developed lessons or connected school garden projects to the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Our whole elementary school is reading the book and I am trying to connect some of our spring/ winter sowing to the book. Any ideas would be appreciated.
    Thanks so much, 
    Bernadette


  • 2.  RE: garden connections to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book

    Posted 02-26-2025 03:58:00 PM

    I haven't developed any lessons for this book but off the top of my head you could explore sugarcane or sugar beets and/or cacao. The book also mentions strawberries and oranges, but I would not explore the fantasy 'snozberries' that are mentioned because it seems that the term had a dirty alternate meaning that is inappropriate for children. Google it to learn more. Maybe you could invite a local candymaker or chocolate maker to school as a speaker for an assembly. Overall, this isn't my favorite book, and the movie is pretty weird, too. 



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    [Lara] [Guerra]
    [Science Teacher]
    [The Hockaday School]
    [Dallas] [Texas]
    [lguerra@hockaday.org]
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: garden connections to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book

    Posted 02-26-2025 08:29:00 PM
    Wow! These are great ideas, thank you so much for responding. I have some fun riddles about different plants used to make candy and also thought planting Napa cabbage would be fun ( what Charlie and his family have to eat most of the time).
    Thanks again! 



    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: garden connections to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book

    Posted 02-26-2025 04:33:00 PM

    Oh fun! If you are wanting to plant a "Chocolate Garden", break out the seed catalogs! Lots of flowers and vegetables with chocolate in their name like Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes, CH. mini Bell Peppers, CH.  Lettuce, CH. Corn, CH. Sprinkles Tomatoes, CH Mint (in a pot), CH cosmos, CH Sunflowers, CH Nasturtiums, etc. Lots of chocolate colors and smells. One year I planted a whole garden of Purple vegetables and flowers....  the children loved it. 



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    Jeannie Holmes
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: garden connections to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book

    Posted 02-26-2025 06:08:00 PM

    I was working in ChatGPT today when I saw this post. I figured I would try to get some ideas using AI. I like #6 as it aligns best with the "winter sowing" idea. You could randomly place a "golden marking" under one of the jugs you are planting out and the student that planted it will get a prize pack of starter plants or something like that. Here is what AI fed me. Feel free to use or modify any of this. Linking literature to the garden is a great idea. Good luck!

    Lesson Ideas:     Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & School Garden Projects

    1. The Everlasting Garden: Exploring Plant Lifecycles

    Objective: Students learn about plant lifecycles and compare them to Willy Wonka's "Everlasting Gobstoppers."

    Activity: Students plant seeds using winter sowing and track their growth over time, discussing how plants "live forever" by reseeding or being perennial.

    2. Invention Lab: Designing a Fantasy Fruit or Veggie

    Objective: Students use creativity to design a new plant that could grow in Wonka's factory.

    Activity: After observing real seeds and plants, students invent their own "magical" vegetable or fruit (e.g., a tomato that tastes like chocolate). They illustrate and describe how it grows.

    3. Sweet vs. Savory: The Science of Taste in the Garden

    Objective: Students explore how different plants create flavors and how taste works.

    Activity: Grow a variety of herbs and edible plants (e.g., mint, basil, radishes). Have a taste test and compare natural sweetness to processed sugar.

    4. Wonka's Wild Weather: Microclimates & Gardening

    Objective: Students learn how different plants need different growing conditions.

    Activity: Compare winter sowing to greenhouse growing. Create small "Wonka-inspired" mini-greenhouses with clear containers and track how different seeds germinate in different conditions.

    5. Chocolate Factory Sustainability: From Cacao to Compost

    Objective: Learn about where chocolate comes from and how sustainable gardening practices help the environment.

    Activity: Discuss the cacao plant and composting. Start a compost bin in the garden and explore how food waste (like cocoa husks) can be recycled into soil nutrients.

    6. Winter Sowing & Wonka's Experimental Garden

    Objective: Students learn about winter sowing and how plants can grow in unexpected conditions, much like Willy Wonka's chocolate garden.

    Activity: Students plant seeds in milk jugs (mini-greenhouses) for winter sowing and compare their garden to the fantastical edible landscape in the book.

    7. Golden Ticket Garden – Exploring Plants in Chocolate Production

    Objective: Students explore the plants that go into making chocolate (cacao, sugarcane, vanilla) and compare them to what can be grown in their own garden.

    Activity: Create a "Golden Ticket Garden" where students grow plants related to sweets (mint, berries, stevia) and learn about sustainability in farming.



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    Lori Princiotto
    Glenwood School
    Short Hills NJ
    9733797576
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: garden connections to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book

    Posted 03-02-2025 02:48:00 PM

    Kids gardening has a resource related to chocolate:

    https://kidsgardening.org/resources/garden-activities-creating-with-chocolate/



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    Judy Pfister
    Delaware Master Gardener
    Millsboro, DE
    Judy
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    Original Message


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