Have You Ever Made Stone Soup for a Class?

Yes, I did it for first graders. It was loads of fun. I had the kids read the story and brain storm the recipe. I brought the "stone" that I had found at a store that had washed and polished stones. Then I washed the stone with soap and water in front of the kids so everyone knew the stone was clean. I also brought the spices. Have some kids bring things like bread and butter to go with the soup if you want. Part of the fun was to have the kids bring fresh vegetables and have them cut and slice them but then you need lots of adult help.

Then we cooked the soup. It was great and everyone had fun.

Our preschool does this every year. The fun part is having the kids each contribute something, so I'm a little confused about you using a recipe. My recommendation is to start the broth yourself with spices, etc. so that it will be flavorful, and then have kids sign up to bring something. If you want to cook in classroom with a crockpot, you could ask that parents chop ingredients at home. We were told that ingredients had to be store-bought, so no home grown canned tomatoes :( One of the other classrooms contributes butter that they make in jars by shaking cream for hours. The in-house cook makes cornbread and pies and all the parents are invited for the "Harvest Feast." By the way, one child really was responsible for the stone, which did find its way into someone's bowl! I don't think she was grossed out. It was like finding the prize in your cereal bowl!

I see you got a response to use a slow cooker. that way the kids participate in the making by dumping the veggies in.

As far as the stone goes. It does sound gross to just use a stone but if you think about it baked potatoes come from the ground if you scrub the stone and maybe even boil it in water first to sterizile it i honestly think you would be fine, some gift shops and toy stores probably sell pretty colored Polished Rocks if that makes it sound better to you. Or maybe you could just use a potato with the skin still on?

good luck sounds fun, and teacher sounds like a grumpy fiber fart.

We did this with my Mom when we were kids! Choose a round, hard, smooth rock. Scrub the rock with soap and water. Boil the rock if you choose, really not needed though because most veggies come from the ground also. Everything will be cooked and sterilized when you heat the water. Good luck and have fun with it!

Hobby Lobby, kids science museums and zoos all sell stones.
We used a real one that had been cleaned.
Serve bread with the soup. It will be something they remember forever.

My preschool experience with stone soup is similar: have a washed stone, have children bring in veggies to cut up (or run through a processor, if knives are an issue) and cook them in a broth. Glimpsing at posts, one thing I would suggest is using a vegetable-based broth and keeping it vegetarian friendly, so that kids who come from a veg household can enjoy it as well.

Here's the other thing: kids are picky eaters when it comes to this activity. They will often eat a lot of the bread and whatever else is served, but sometimes they are just not crazy about the soup. So be sure that there are some other foods of substance to fill them up. Can be as simple as some apple slices, raw veggies and dip and cheese, nuts (or other protein). Have fun!

My daughters class just made this. It is such a great idea, and the book that goes with it is so cute.
The teacher sent a note home asking for every student to bring something specific (ours was 1/2 cup ground beef--the neighbors was 1 cup chopped onion). I happened to go in and help that day. She did have a real stone in the pot. It was just a bigger river rock that she had washed. She cooked it on a little burner and had a stock pot. It turned out great. The school smelled fabulous that day.
Have fun!

My friend has some river rocks that she routinely uses to make stone soup. They have been through the dishwasher so many times they can't possibly be dirty.

We use a crock pot and already have the meat and onions cooked. We let each child put something in the pot as the story unfolds then let it heat through and serve it with crackers.

We use canned Veg-all that is the small chunks. It is more age approp. since the pieces are about 1/4". We also add extra cans of corn and green beans since most kids will eat those. Out secret ingredient's are small chunked sweet potatoes and Ro-Tel tomatoes, original. It is very yummy and not too spicy if you are using a very large crock pot.

Stone soup is a tradition at my kids's school for 1st grade. The kids harvest vegetables from a district farm and then the mom's make the soup. We put a ham hock, chicken broth and vegetables, (but not a stone) in a crock pot and cook it at school. I think there is just one large crockpot for each class. I think all the kids taste it, but not all of them like it, so you don't need as much as you would if they were all eating it for a meal. The kids still eat lunch and have the soup as a snack.