Cookie Mining

Students mine chocolate chips out of cookies using toothpicks to simulate coal mining. The activity models the environmental impact of strip mining on habitats and helps students understand that fossil fuels are non-renewable resources.

1. Distribute one cookie, a plate, and a Cookie Mining Worksheet to each student.
2. Ask students to sketch their cookie in two ways:
   • A drawing of the cookie itself.
   • A drawing of a fictional habitat above it, imagining the cookie as underground bedrock.
3. Explain that the chocolate chips represent coal deposits, and toothpicks are mining tools.
4. Give students about 5 minutes to carefully remove as many chocolate chips as possible with toothpicks.
5. After mining, students sketch the cookie again, showing its new state and imagining how the “habitat” has been damaged.
6. Lead a wrap-up discussion comparing before and after conditions, linking mining impacts to real ecosystems.
7. Optionally, let students eat their cookies during discussion.

Cookie Mining - Balarat Outdoor Education:

Cookie Mining - Lignite Energy Council:

📄 Fossil Fuels: Chocolate Chip Mining - California Academy of Sciences: https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/fossil-fuels-chocolate-chip-mining

• Have students compare cookies with different chip densities to simulate resource-rich vs. resource-poor areas.
• Introduce costs for tools and fines for habitat damage to simulate economic and environmental trade-offs.
• Extend into a sustainability lesson by comparing mined resources with renewable energy options.

• Ensure students wash hands before starting if they plan to eat cookies afterward.
• Toothpicks should be used carefully to avoid injury.
• Allergies to cookie ingredients should be checked beforehand.

• How did mining affect the cookie’s “habitat”? (It became damaged, fragmented, or destroyed.)
• Do the chocolate chips return after being removed? (No, like coal, they are non-renewable.)
• What impact might strip mining have on real ecosystems? (Loss of habitats, erosion, water contamination.)
• What benefits do fossil fuels provide? (Jobs, income, and energy.)
• What problems might arise if coal mining stopped, and how could we solve them? (Loss of energy and jobs, but renewable resources and new industries can help reduce dependence.)