Grade: Elementary

#2907. Eat your state!

Social Studies, level: Elementary
Posted Sat Aug 23 04:37:33 PDT 2003 by Candice Moton (cmoton@richmond.k12.va.us).
Fairfield Elementary, Richmond, VA
Materials Required: Cookie dough, cutter*, frosting, food coloring, candies, maps
Activity Time: 20-30 minutes, depending on skill level
Concepts Taught: Locating city, important places, land/water features on a map

Purchase several rolls of sugar cookie dough, or make a big batch from scratch. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter in the shape of your state and cut out a cookie state for each student. The bigger the cutter, the better, but this means you'll need lots of dough! *If you cannot find a cookie cutter for your state, try tracing the shape from a blackline copy.

Put the cookies in the oven and bake until done. Cool on a wire rack.

Take the cookies to school. Group children, or let them work individually. Provide each child (group) with an enlarged map of their state, in color, if possible. Distribute frosting and candies and have students decorate their cookies by first frosting them, then adding the candies to represent their state's city, various landmarks or state features. Students can use blue frosting for water, green for land, brown for mountains, etc. Be creative. Students can take their cookies home to display, then eat their states!