Are you ready to make your homeschool geography delicious with snacks from countries around the world? Today I’d like to share with you how we took our geography from bland and boring to vibrant and delectable!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement for more information.
Geography has been a huge part of our homeschool this year. We’ve incorporated oodles of maps, books, documentaries, and even chalk pastel art! I had heard about Universal Yums from a family member over the previous holiday season and decided to give this subscription box a try.
Homeschool Geography with Delicious Snacks
Universal Yums is a monthly subscription box that delivers a box of snacks from a different country each month. Each box is filled with a large variety of delicious snacks from sweet and salty to tart and spicy. Our very first box was from Italy and it totally hooked us! The next month was December so our box included holiday snacks from around the world!
We love pairing our box with our geography books to take the learning a bit further. But, this is absolutely a family event. It’s not just for the kids. Our whole family including my sister and my brother-in-law enjoy being a part of the learning and fun that happens with the Universal Yums box.
Here is a sampling of snacks from our Netherlands box.
Stroop Waffles. Delicious when dipped into hot chocolate.
Chocolate covered Kruidnoten cookies are Ah-Mazing!
The chocolate bar with hazelnut filling was hands down the best thing in the box.
The licorice was disgusting and was absolutely the worst thing in the box! But, we aren’t big fans of licorice anyway.
Universal Yums Makes Geography Fun
There are three different boxes to choose from:
- Yum Box – 5-7 snacks and a 12-page booklet with trivia and games
- Yum Yum Box – 10-12 snacks, 16-page booklet with trivia and games, and BONUS content including recipes and more!
- Super Yum Box – 18-20 snacks, 16-page booklet with trivia and games, and BONUS content including recipes and more!
The facts and trivia are SUPER interesting, folks!
For example: Did you know that as part of the annual Boekenweek (“Book Week”) festival, the Dutch rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen offers free travel if you show a book! But not just any book. Every year, a well-known Dutch author is commissioned to write the boekenweekgeschenk, or “book week gift,” which also functions as a boarding pass.
How about this one? The police force in Rotterdam, Netherlands has been training an elite group of sewer rats since 2013. The rats’ incredible sense of smell allows them to locate illegal contraband with 95% accuracy and they do it in just two seconds!
Talk about some interesting rabbit trails of learning!
We originally started with the the medium Yum Yum box, but have since upgraded to the Super Yum box!
You can choose to pay monthly or annually for your subscription with options ranging from 3, 6, or 12 months. Cancel at any time.
*Ingredients are listed on the pamphlet contained in that month’s box. Unfortunately, there are no substitutions to accommodate for allergies. Universal Yums does not encourage those with food allergies to purchase a subscription.
Homeschool Geography Activities
We’ve had our Universal Yums subscription for over 6 months now, and everyone gets excited when it gets delivered. Actually, my husband gets quite impatient waiting for it. He’s that big of a fan!
My daughter loves filling out the score card as everyone rates the individual snacks. The score card helps us to decide the tastiest snack in the box, the weirdest snack in the box, and the grossest snack in the box.
Our most recent box was from Turkey.
Did you know that per capita, Turkey is the world’s largest consumer of tea? Yep, the average citizen savors seven pounds in a single year!
Did you know that there is a public library in Ankara, Turkey that exclusively features books picked from the trash?
So interesting!
The Turkey box had more earthy and spicy flavors than we were used to. Let’s just say the kids were not fans of tahini!
Our absolute favorite box so far has been from Spain with Ukraine coming in at a close second. Watching the kids faces while they try some of the delicious, weird, unusual, and even disgusting snacks is half the fun. But learning the facts alongside the treats is what makes Universal Yums truly memorable.
The Universal Yums subscription box is geography with a twist and we highly recommend adding it to your next geography lesson. You never know what new flavors you’ll discover or what interesting facts you’ll learn!
You may enjoy these additional geography resources!
[…] year, folks! We’ve read loads of books, watched fantastic documentaries and television shows, tried delicious snacks, explored maps and globes. We’ve traveled the world with Nana’s chalk pastel Maps and […]