Every Day is a Chance to Learn: Holiday in Australia! Part 3: Phillip Island Chocolate Factory and Chocolate Fun Learning Activities!

We visited the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory and C had loads of fun! C and I are chocolate lovers, and it was a wonderful place to learn how chocolate is made!

We started the tour learning about how and where cocoa trees are grown, and the process of how cocoa beans are converted into chocolate.

C handling a cocoa pod.

There are many interactive exhibits, where kids can touch and feel the cocoa pods, dried cocoa beans, and also have a hands on experience of using the machinery that processes the cocoa.

C having a feel of how dried cocoa beans feel like.

The machine that roasts and dries the beans to stop
the fermentation process, to allow proper storage.

A winnowing machine that
crushes the beans and separates
the shells from the cocoa nibs.

A pressing machine to extract the cocoa oils called cocoa butter.

Here's a summary of how Chocolate is made:

C with her cousins. The huge picture behind is actually
made out of 12,000 pieces of chocolate! It's an image of
a lady called Dame Edna.

A chocolate village where a list of hidden treasures can
be found!

The kids' favourite part of the chocolate tour was the amazing 3D Zoetrope! It's a device that uses a sequence of images to create an illusion of movement, like a movie does. This Zoetrope is really enthralling, and shows a scene where cute little penguins are made out of pouring chocolate into moulds.

Here's a video of it:

There was also a really fun side show alley, where we got to play challenging games to win chocolates!

The Side Show Alley.

Ski Jump & Whack a Penguin.

Laughing Pelicans &
Pengdulum.

The Chocolate Factory also had other fun rooms that allowed us to explore different textures and aromas, cute penguin robots that deliver free pieces of chocolate of your choice, chocolate waterfall, and a window through which you can view how chocolate is prepared in the kitchen!

Overall, the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory was a fun and interesting visit for the kids! :)

Meanwhile, here are some of the other activities we did that were inspired by this visit:

Marble Jump

Inspired by the Ski Jump from this side show alley, we created our own Marble Jump, where we created our own ramp using a paper roll. We varied the angles to get the best jump for the marble, to land it into the Piranha Cup.

Our own Marble Jump! We created a ramp for a marble
to be launched into a Piranha Cup!

C all excited to launch the marble
down the ramp!

Ready, Set and Go!

Chocolate Math and Alphabet Fun

The chocolate pieces were printed and then cut out. C used them to complete the math equations as well as the alphabet activity! :)

Click here to download Chocolate Math and Alphabet Fun!

Chocolate Tasting

C was given two pieces of chocolate:
one piece of milk chocolate and one piece of dark chocolate.

First, she was asked to tell the difference just by looking at the two pieces of chocolate.
Next, C tasted them both and decided on the difference between the way they tasted, as well as the texture.

The milk chocolate was sweeter and creamier in texture, while the dark chocolate was a little harder and slightly bitter. C very quickly decided that she preferred the milk chocolate!