For the first art project, I tried my hand at culinary arts. I have never been a confident cook or baker. I don’t like to experiment and I don’t like to fail at something I am going to have to eat. Food is expensive and I do not like wasting it.
I decided to bake the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as an integrated social studies art project.
Ideally, I would use this project in a unit with 5th grade students when we are talking about the students’ rights, community rights, states’ rights, voting and elections. The students could create their own miniature versions, or even large versions of these documents or create their own. For example, I would want to teach the students the importance of voting and voicing their opinions/deciding on new laws in legislation. The students could create their own documents as part of a campaign speech that shows what they are running for and believe in.
The hardest part of this project was the writing portion. If I were to do that again, I think I would want to use actual frosting instead of the frosting gel pens that can be bought at Walmart. I would have also used a different type of dough other than the flat sheet dough. The dough didn’t fold or raise the way I wish it would have.
Overall, I learned that culinary arts can be fun, but can also be a challenge for me and probably for some of my students, especially if they haven’t had much experience in the kitchen with their families or in their homes.
https://www.ducksters.com/history/declaration_of_independence.php