I wanted my soil layers snack to be nutritional so I developed a yogurt parfait that creates a great visual to help students understand soil layers. The ingredients were chosen to specifically reflect the components within the soil layers (I addressed, humus, topsoil, subsoil, and bedrock; parent material would be very easy to add in as well).
Soil Layers Parfaits
Ingredients:
- Thinly sliced fruit (apples, pears, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, bananas, or mango)
- (nut-free) Granola with dried raisins or cranberries (fresh or frozen blueberries would make a great substitute)
- Low-sugar yogurt with stirred fruit
- Shredded coconut or oatmeal
Preparation
- To prepare the parfaits have fruit sliced into thin pieces. The sliced fruit will go on the bottom of the parfait and will symbolize the bedrock.
- If you choose to address parent material in your lesson, use blueberries, raspberries, or cut up strawberry chunks (about the size of the smaller berries) for the second layer
- The next layer will be granola granola that contains either dried cranberries or raisins this will symbolize the subsoil.
- The next layer to go into the cup will be low sugar yogurt with stirred fruit, which will symbolize the topsoil; the fruit pieces in the yogurt will symbolize decaying organic matter within the topsoil.
- The top layer of the parfait will symbolize the humus and could be shredded coconut or oatmeal.
Have the sliced fruit laid in the bottom of clear cups before you begin and have each of the other ingredients divided into several bowls so that groups of students can work together to build their parfaits. Make sure that your students build layer by layer as you discuss what each soil layer is. Give clear instructions to the students that they are not to eat the parfaits until they are complete and we are finished discussing the layers.
Have fun and experiment with the recipe a little!
Be sure to leave a comment if you try it or add your own twist because I'd love to hear your take on Soil Parfaits!
Cheers!
H