COPPERAS COVE, TX (April 4, 2023)— Colorful Peeps candies are popular Spring treats, especially with Easter coming up on Sunday. Hettie Halstead Elementary second grade teacher Lauren Caramanica used the marshmallow favorites to create some bunny-inspired learning fun for students while also teaching a lesson in kindness and reinforcing crucial academic abilities.
Using two boxes of blue Jello mix, water, cool whip, blue food coloring, and Peeps, students created their own Peeps Jello sundaes while increasing their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Students were able to first sequence the events in the Peeps activity before sharing publicly with their classmates.
“Kids learn better through hands-on activities,” Caramanica said. “We incorporated writing, math, and reading into this lesson and the students made may connections while still having a wonderful time together.”
The second graders reinforced their abilities to grasp procedural text by following the steps in the recipe to create their tasty Easter treats. It was also a sensory lesson as the sweet edible layers were sticky due to the sugar content, the airiness of the whipped cream, and the smooth texture of the gelatin once it set into solid form.
Caramanica adjusted the lesson to meet individual student needs.
“One student does not like Jello, so she created a whipped cream sundae,” Caramanica said. “There was a lot of laughter during this activity by all of the students. They were proud of their creations.”
Students developed “Peeps personas” for each of their sundaes giving them names, background histories, and more, demonstrating the students’ individualism and creativity. The holiday-related lesson related back to a pastime that is implemented year-round: kindness. After each student shared with the class about his specific Peep Jello sundae, he then complimented his classmates, referred to as “peeps,” by telling them something he liked about each of them.
“I wish we could do this every day,” student Johnathan Ramos said.
Teachers also use Peeps for lessons on density and solubility. A Peep has tons of little tiny air bubbles inside that give it its light and airy texture. Because of this, its density is less than the water’s density and it will float. Peeps are water soluble meaning they can be dissolved by water because they are made of sugar. The color from the Peeps dissolves the fastest. Floating Peeps in an acidic liquid like vinegar will cause the treat to dissolve more quickly.
Peeps are also used in the classroom for a variety of STEM activities that the students look forward to catapulting Peeps, balancing Peeps, and creating homemade parachutes for Peeps for students to explore air resistance and create a safe landing for their marshmallow treats.
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