When a tree tells a story, you can imagine that soil is probably part of it. Soil plays a major role in the story of ARROW (but I won’t tell you what — no spoilers here). In extending the story, teachers and parents can use ARROW to help teach children about soil, and I’ve got a really fun way to do that in my STEM Activity Guide for the book. My intern, Signe, even makes a version with her family, and she’s agreed to share it here. (Thanks, Signe!) Let us know what you think.
How to Make Edible Dirt
Hello, everyone! Signe here to tell you all about how to make edible dirt — or Dirt Cake as we say in my family. (By the way, I’m Samantha’s intern! Hi!)
You first need to identify all of the earth layers that you are going to make with your edible dirt. I picked (in order from lowest to highest): bedrock, weathered rock, top soil, and humus (I skipped subsoil because of space).
Here are my ingredients: Chocolate chips, chocolate pudding, gummy worms, sprinkles, and sandwich cream cookies.
Now, you don’t have to use the same ingredients that I used. If I wanted to make my mother’s Dirt Cake, I would include vanilla pudding, cream cheese, nilla wafers, and all kinds of tooth-rotting things. You can use different kinds of sprinkles or other gummies to make the grass and such, maybe make a tree in there somewhere.
Each ingredient represents a layer of soil within the ground. Bedrock is large chunks of cookies, weathered rock are crunched up bits, the top soil is pubbing, and the humus is the green sprinkles.
The first step requires you to get your hands messy, so wash those hands! You’ll want to put some cookies in a small bag and crush them with your hands. They do not need to be broken into little pieces, I actually want you to leave big pieces!
Next, you’ll want to have another baggie and smash the cookie pieces into finer bits. Here is the photo of mine:
After that, follow the instructions of the pudding box until it is done. I did instant pudding mix so I had it right away. Put as much or as little pudding mix you want in the cup. Add some gummy worms.
Finally, top the whole this off with some sprinkles!
Now you are ready to eat your edible dirt!
(Note, you might want to have some milk with this creation. Please eat in moderation. I got too excited for mine and gave myself a stomach ache by the end of this demonstration. But oh well, I will gladly eat sweets in the name of science!)
Thank, you, Signe! AAHHH!!! This looks so delicious and fun. Let us know below if you’ve made this. And check out the soil version in the ARROW STEM Activity Guide.
