Kids Makin' Dirt Cups with a Gummy Worm

How about letting kids make their own dirt cups? No, not real dirt, Oreo dirt. After all, dirt cake, or dirt cups are FOR kids. This is an easy recipe, even a kindergartner can manage to make a dirt cup with a bit of assistance.

Ingredients and Materials for Eight Children

• 1 package of instant chocolate pudding
• 2 cups of cold milk
• 16 Oreo cookies
• 8 regular gummi worms - not the sour kind
• 1 can or whipped cream
• 8- 8oz. plastic party cups
• 8 snack size, zip top bags
• 8 plastic spoons
• 1/4 cup measuring cup
• 1 plastic knife for leveling the pudding
• 1 black permanent marker

Note: I make the instant chocolate pudding ahead of time. One package will yield eight -one fourth cup servings.

 Before starting, have each child write their name on their party cup with a black permanent marker. 

1. Give each child an Oreo cookie and have them put it in the zip top snack bag and crush it up. Resist the urge to help. It is okay to have larger chunks in your"dirt."

2. Demonstrate and explain how to use the back of the plastic knife to level the pudding in the 1/4 cup measuring cup.

• Assist as necessary with the leveling procedure. Then, the kids will use their spoon to scrape the pudding out of the measuring cup and into their cup. 

This is where I talked about the importance of measuring ingredients exactly when following a recipe. 

3. Each child can now dump the crushed cookie into the cup and stir it in.

The cookie filling will stick a little bit to the inside of  the bag, but that is okay because they are going to crush a second cookie.

4. Tell the children they are going to squirt about the same amount of whipped cream into the cup as they have pudding. 

• Then they are going to stir the whipped cream into the cookie/pudding mixture until it is all the same color, or well blended. 

This is why I use 8 oz. cups. the children can stir, but keep the mixture in the cup. 

5. Give each child a second cookie to crush in their zip top bag and a gummi worm.

•  Make sure they understand that they are not going to stir this cookie into the pudding even though their spoon is still in the cup. 

6. Have children dump the crushed cookie on top of the pudding mixture for topsoil and put the worm on top of the crumbs.

Remember - the plastic spoon stays in the cup.

7. Place "dirt" cups on a tray and refrigerate for 30 to 40 minutes.

 This is just enough time to go on a walking field trip and look for different kinds of dirt, or have containers of potting soil, sand, and regular dirt for children to look at and examine with magnifying glasses. 

Now it is time for the kids to eat their very own "dirt" cup. Yay! Homemade happiness in a cup!