Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.

Lesson Plans


Janice's Buttercream icing (for the edible color wheel)

From: Janjarreau
Date: Wed May 31 2000 - 09:06:02 PDT

  • Next message: Janjarreau: "Re: Sandra in Al's Interview & Marks observation"

    Note: I double this and it makes a big bowl. Delicious!

    JANICE'S BUTTERCREAM ICING
    1/2 cup shortening
    1 stick butter or margarine
    1 tsp. vanilla flavoring (I use 1 capful of clear Wilton brand)
    1 tsp. butter flavoring (I use 1 capful of Wilton brand)
    1 pound powered sugar
    milk or water (very small amount just to get it creamy)
        Cream the shortening and butter. Add flavorings and mix. Pour in the
    powered sugar and mix slowly until all is damp. Add milk to aid with the
    mixing. Mix until creamy. You can mix it longer to make it light and fluffy.
    Janice Jarreau
    EDIBLE COLOR WHEEL
    Here is the edible color wheel instructions from Sharon.

    Before class I scooped out Pillsbury Vanilla frosting into 3 small styrofoam
    bowls. I used food coloring to dye them red, blue and yellow. The red was
    still sort of pink, but....

    (And be aware that some kids are allergic to Red Dye # 40. Most who are
    *know* they are, so it might be a good idea to ask before they get going
    with this.)

    I had the bowls covered with a paper towel and started the review as normal,
    saying we were going to start with color theory. (I've gotten them to sit
    in groups of 3 or 4, by the way.)

    I asked them to tell me the primary colors. Once identified, I uncovered
    the bowls. This got their immediate attention as they weren't sure what it
    was at first!

    I then asked them what secondary colors were and how they would mix them.
    (As I was asking the questions, I was putting globs of each color of
    frosting on pieces of saran wrap. Styrofoam plates would have worked
    better, but I didn't have any.)

    I passed out the saran wrap to each group, craft sticks to each student,
    still asking them questions (complementary, analogous, etc.)

    Then and only then did I pull out the boxes of Vanilla wafers! And the
    light began to dawn!

    I just dumped a good-sized handful of cookies (not broken ones) on the paper
    towel in the center of each group and told them to work as a team to make a
    color wheel. And told them NOT to lick the stick, but to wipe it off on
    another piece of paper towel to avoid contaminating the primaries.

    It worked out really, really well. After I'd checked each group's wheel,
    they were allowed to eat them. And like I said, some clever kids (ha) asked
    if they could make tints! And some got very creative making cookies that
    were swirly, both complementary colors on one cookie, etc.

    I bought a lot more frosting than I needed--I only used about 2 containers
    for 50+ kids. On the other hand, I used nearly 3 boxes of cookies, since I
    was trying to find unbroken ones.

    This activity would be a great intro to color theory and it also served as a
    really nice review, too! I did this with my little kids (5th-6th graders)
    as well as with my upper school students.

    Sharon 

    ---

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed May 31 2000 - 09:08:28 PDT