Early Childhood Education-"Encouraging children to "Make Valentines Chocolate Covered Strawberries "

 With Valentines around the corner, this is a fun activity that you can do with your children in daycare or preschool. Its a great way for children to use there fine motor skills.  It just takes  several simple ingredients to create this mouth-watering snack:

Ingredients

• 16 ounces milk chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• Fresh strawberries with leaves or any other fruit (banana, raspberry)
• Styrofoam
• Tooth picks
• White chocolate melted (optional)

Directions

1. Wash strawberries and gently pat dry with paper towels.
2. Insert toothpicks into the tops of the strawberries.
3. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and shortening, stirring occasionally until smooth. Holding them by the toothpicks, dip the strawberries into the chocolate mixture.
4. Turn the strawberries upside down and insert the toothpick into styrofoam for the chocolate to cool. 
5.  Melt white chocolate and drizzle over strawberries to add color.