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Daily Jigsaw Puzzles: Colorful Pumpkins And Wicker Basket
How long will it take you to solve this online puzzle?
How many words can you make from the words:
How quickly can you find the 10 words in this Holiday Foods word search?
Get Coloring Pages: Cornucopia – Choose from a variety of cornucopias to print.
Super Coloring: Cornucopia – Choose from a variety of cornucopias to print or color online.
All of the following topics can be found on FranW.com
South Mountain Creamery: All About…Chestnuts – What is the difference between a sweet chestnut and a horse chestnut? Read this short article to find out! This site includes a variety of ways to cook chestnuts and offers some links for chestnut recipes.
The Spruce Eats: How to Roast Chestnuts at Home – Gives tips for picking and storing chestnuts, how to cook and peel, and some ways to eat them.
David Ludwig: The Secret to Roasted Chestnuts – This site offers another way to prepare chestnuts, it requires a little extra work, but claims the extra step is worth it because it creates a creamy texture.
GH: 4 Surprising Health Benefits of Chestnuts – Article offers nutrition facts, health benefits, and some ways to enjoy them.
Activity Suggestion: Purchase a pound of chestnuts and experiment with a few different ways of cooking them. Compare methods. Try them in a recipe too!
The Return of the Chestnut
How to Roast Chestnuts
Harvesting Chestnuts Harvesting Chinese Chestnuts
The Amazing Thing About Chestnut Seedlings
*This post is for educational purposes only. The information included is not suggesting that wild mushrooms should be picked and eaten without an experienced mushroom hunter’s help.
Gmushrooms: Mushrooms – What is a mushroom? Mushroom Facts – This site offers information about mushrooms. It also sells mushroom kits. (I am not part of any affiliate programs.) 
Science Kids: Mushroom Facts for Kids – This page offers 15 interesting facts about mushrooms.
Mushroom: A Journal of Wild Mushrooming – Site offers information for learning how to learn about and collect mushrooms.
JustFunFacts: Interesting facts about mushrooms – Learn a variety of interesting facts about mushroom growth, nutritional/health information, and history.
Gardening Channel: List of Mushroom Types from A to Z– Site does not include pictures, but the name can be searched.
Suggested Activity: Purchase a mushroom growing kit and experiment with a variety of mushrooms.
Discovery – How its made – Mushroom Production
MUSHROOM | How Does it Grow?
How to Grow Shiitake Mushrooms (Recipe Included!)
How to Grow Mushrooms
Wikipedia: Gingerbread House – Gingerbread house history, modern times, Guinness World records, and Gingerbread houses.
PBS: History Gingerbread – Article talks a bit about the history of ginger, and where the first gingerbread recipe came from and the inspiration to decorate gingerbread
DLTK Site:
Kidzone: Gingerbread Man Theme Unit – 5 Day Theme Unit and Resource List
Felt Gingerbread Man – Links to the poem and a mini-book version as well.
Gingerbread Man Dot Page – Printable activity page.
Gingerbread Man Activities – Clip art, coloring pages, recipes, and craft ideas.
Gingerbread House – Online Jigsaw Puzzle
Enchanted Learning: Gingerbread Man – Site offers a picture story about the Gingerbread Man and craft ideas. Some activities may need a membership to print.
Mathwire: Winter Math Activities: Gingerbread House – Scroll down to the ginger bread house activities.
ABCya!: Gingerbread House – This site offers people a chance to build a virtual gingerbread house. Choose from an array of items to help you build and design a one of a kind house. Flash Player required to play.
Martha Stewart: Swedish Gingerbread House How-To – Scroll through the pictures to see how to construction this house using caramel syrup as the glue!
King Arthur Flour: Construction Gingerbread for Gingerbread Houses and Gingerbread House Cakes – Recipes
Food Network: Gingerbread House – Recipe
PBS: Zoom: Graham Cracker Gingerbread House – An easy to make house made from Graham crackers.
Little Red Window: Tiny Cardboard Gingerbread House – Instructions for making a gingerbread house from recycled cardboard.
FranW.com: Christmas/Holiday House – Make a holiday house from a milk carton!
YouTube: Gingerbread Playlist – Make an origami house, learn how gingerbread house kits are made, and watch an gingerbread house competition.
Here’s one of the videos in the list…
History: Holiday Foods-Gingerbread Houses
Picture by Becka Hons
Chocolate Information & ArticlesScience Museum of Minnesota: Where are cacao trees grown? Find out here.
Field Museum: Chocolate – Just for Kids: History, activities, process of making and much more.
Cornell University: Chocolate: Food of the Gods. There is a lot of information about chocolate on this site. Includes the history of the product, how it grows, health information and much more.
Washington Edu: Discovering the Sweet Mysteries of Chocolate – Brief history and the science of chocolate for kids.
Smithsonian Mag: A Brief History of Chocolate – Offers a brief, yet informative, history of chocolate. Also, Healers Once Prescribed Chocolate Like Aspirin – Article: (From the site) From ancient Mesoamerica to Renaissance Europe, the modern confectionary treat has medical roots.
Smithsonian: “Chocolate is a Fighting Food!” – Chocolate bars in the Second World War – This article has information about war rations offered to American soldiers and a story about the wartime chocolate memories of the author’s grandfather.
The Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club: Chocolate History Timeline – Chocolate History Timeline from 2000 B.C. to 1938 WW II.
Hershey: Our-Story – Discover Hershey: There’s more to Hershey then meets the eye. Find out who Milton Hershey was, and how chocolate is made.
Cadbury: Discovering Chocolate – The Great Chocolate Discovery – This article discusses how chocolate was discovered, how ancient Mayans and Aztecs used it, and its introduction into Spain and Europe.
Chocolate.org: Chocolate and the Aztecs – History of chocolate, the Aztecs, and the Spanish: Introducing Cacao, Meet the Aztecs, The Aztecs Were Followers, and Chocolate Lives On.
ICCO: International Cocoa Organization: The Chocolate Industry – Who are the main manufacturers of chocolate in the world?
Wikipedia: History of Chocolate – General information about the history of chocolate. Also, Cocoa Butter.
Fox News Food & Drink: 6 of the World’s Most Expensive Chocolates – Find out what the most expensive chocolate is and who makes it.
WorldAtlas: Top 10 Cocoa Producing Countries – Information about the world biggest and smallest producers of cocoa.
Cocoa Project – This site offers different aspects of a cocoa study.
FAO: Growing Cocoa – Information about growing cocoa.
Medical News Today: Chocolate: Health Benefits, Facts, and Research – Learn about the health benefits of chocolate!
US National Libary of Medicine – Chocolate in History: Food, Medicine, Medi-Food – Offers: Introduction, the concept of Diet, Chocolate as Medicine: the Mesoamerican Tradition, Chocolate as Medicine: the European Tradition, Last Chapters, and Conclusions: Chocolate as Medi-Food. This is a technical article.
PennLive: A spoonful of … chocolate? Cacao has a history of medicinal use – Site offers a book review of: ‘Chocolate as Medicine: A Quest Over the Centuries’ – the history of chocolate’s medical uses.
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| Chocolate Activities |
FranW.com – Chocolate Activities – I offer more chocolate related posts, including resources and recipes such as a chocolate egg cream, chocolate covered pretzels, lip balm, bubble bath and a hot cocoa base here.
Homeschool Share: Chocolate Unit Study – Free unit study.
Homefires: Chocolate Curriculum – This curriculum was designed for groups or individuals. I wrote it, I hope you enjoy it!
Activity Village: The Chocolate Bar Game – A game played with dice.
All Chocolate Kitchen: Chocolate Sculptures – Take a look at some of the beautiful things that can be made with chocolate.
BoredPanda: 13 Of The Most Creative Works Of Chocolate Art – Site offers a variety of works of art made from chocolate.
Aol.Finance: 10 fun jobs that pay well – Scroll down to Chocolatier.
Chron: The Salary of a Chocolate Maker – Find out how much a chocolate maker makes and what you need to become one.
Melting Mug: Recipe: Xocolatl, The Original Hot Chocolate – Learn a little history about the drink and how to make it a couple of different ways.
Experiments in Tempering Chocolate – What tempering is and comparisons of different techniques to see which work best at home.
Business Insider: Cocoa Butter Prices Are Surging – Article about the high price of cocoa butter and what some companies are doing about it.
Glee Gum: Make your own chocolate kit – Interested in making your own chocolate? You can buy a kit here!
Bloomberg: Brexit Could Reopen U.K.’s 30-Year EU Chocolate War, Clegg Warns – Information about a modern day chocolate war.
All Free Crafts: Chocolate Covered Spoons – Instructions for how to make these treats.
Printable World Map.net – Choose a map to print out.
Ranker: Best Songs About Chocolate – Some songs may not be suitable for all audiences.
Cooking Channel: Outrageous Chocolate Art – A short video that features some interesting items made with chocolate.
Fox Business: The world’s most expensive chocolate: Here’s what it tastes like – A short video about the chocolate bar.
Vimeo: Chocolate: Exhibition Walk-through – Take a short virtual tour of the Field Museum.
YouTube: Chocolate Playlist – How chocolate is grown and made, chocolate art, hot chocolate recipes, chocolate modeling clay recipe and how to, factory tours, how luxury chocolates are made, and other interesting chocolate related videos.
Here’s one of the videos in the list…
Growing Information & Health Benefits of Cranberries
Wikipedia: Cranberry – Growing information, food uses, and medicinal benefits.
The World’s Healthiest Foods: Cranberries – Find out the nutritional value of this food.
MedicalNewsToday: Cranberries: Article – Health benefits, nutritional content, and risks.
Dr. Axe: Cranberries: Article – Cranberries Benefits Are Incredible – Includes nutrition facts, benefits, history and more. Includes links to recipes as well.
Food Facts: Dr. Mercola: Article – What Are Cranberries Good For? Offers health benefits, nutrition facts, study info, a recipe, and fun facts.
Organic Facts: 15 Amazing Benefits Of Cranberry Juice – Medicinal some of the more interesting benefits of cranberries.
Ocean Spray: Cranberries in the Classroom – Free printable activities include: Fact sheets and presentations, worksheets and activities, and videos about how cranberries are grown and harvested.
Universal Preschool.com: Cranberry Fun! – Offers some fun ways families with young children can learn about cranberries.
Elementary Science Program: Cranberries – Historical information about cranberries, how they are grown, and links to more information.
The STEM Laboratory: Dancing Cranberries – An experiment done with dried cranberries and a common liquid. 😊
Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Thanksgiving Food Science: Cranberry Spy Juice – Offers two cranberry experiments and a video to show you how they are done.
YouTube: Cranberry Playlist – Information about cranberries and experiments.
Here’s an example of one of the videos…
Why Christmas: Christmas Candy Canes – Brief information about candy canes.
Spangler: Candy Cane History and Legends – Historical and religious information about candy canes.
Wikipedia: Candy Cane – Origins of the candy cane/peppermint stick and the production of this holiday treat.
Today I Found Out: The Origins of the Candy Cane – An article about the history of the candy cane.
DLTK:
Candy Cane Poem – Printable pages.
Candy Cane Reindeer – Craft idea.
Coloringws.com: Candy Cane coloring pages.
About Family Crafts.com: 26 Candy Cane Crafts – All made with real candy canes!
Fun-A-Day!: 50 Candy Cane Activities For Kids – Ornaments, experiments, crafts, recipes, treats, and more! Links take you to other sites.
From ABC’s to ACT’s: 25+ Candy Cane Crafts, Snacks, and Activities for Kids – Links to you to other sites.
Cooking and Growing Pizza:
Have you ever wondered where French fries got their start or how they are made for commercial use?
Keep reading to find out!
French fries have been around for centuries, and while no one is exactly sure who invented them first, we do know that they originated in either Belgium or France. There’s an interesting history in the argument about who fried the potato first, and if you’re interested in learning more about it, you’ll find some information below.
What can you do with French fries other than eat them?
Experiment #1: How Long Does A French Fry Take To Decay?
Directions: Make French fries or purchase them from a restaurant. Then place a few on a plate and observe them each day until they decay. Try comparing a commercial fry to a homemade one.
Woodpeckers – Links to sites with information about woodpeckers.
Dolphins – Dolphin resources for all ages. Links to lesson plans, anatomy information, videos and more.
Tomatoes – Links and videos about tomato anatomy, history and cultivation, how to grow tomatoes, and harvest seeds.
Create A Comic – Create a comic of your own, links to some famous comics, comic history, and printable pages.
Seasonal Foods
Cabbage– Cabbage experiment suggestions, recipe for homemade coleslaw, and links to cabbage information.
Oranges – General and nutritional information, diseases, educational resources, ideas for orange peels and videos.
Strawberries – Strawberry research project includes links to other strawberries posts on Fran’s World and to other informative sites.
Sweet Potatoes – Sweet potato resources, including nutrition facts, educational info and recipes.
Virtual Crops: Tomato Anatomy Atlas
Click on the part you want to learn about.
Wikipedia: Tomato
History, cultivation, consumption, botanical description and more.
Rutgers: Tomato Varieties
An A-Z list of the types of tomatoes that can be grown. Click on a name for information, the words with a camera have pictures.
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