Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find a family fun night activity that doesn’t involve board games or movies? Especially one that interests kids at a variety of ages and stages? Well, in our house, the only thing that appeals to the kids more than screens is…food! So, we love to do things like Family Cookie Wars or food taste tests. The kids loved the Oreo Taste Test so much that we have started doing other ones as well. The latest? A Goldfish Cracker Taste Test!
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Taste tests are simple really, depending on the type you are doing. For Easter, we simply rated and voted on the very best Jelly Beans out there. But sometimes we like to do “blind taste tests” where the kids need to identify the different flavors of a food without looking at it first. We always add a rating component, but with a blind taste test, that part is more of an afterthought and not the main focus. We also chose to do blind taste tests with foods that have a lot of flavors or varieties. So when the kids were clamoring for another taste test and I saw how many different varieties of Goldfish crackers there were, I knew we had a winner!
Goldfish Cracker Taste Test
Supplies Needed:
Blindfold
Goldfish Crackers (Up to 6 different varieties per record sheet)
Taste Test Record Sheet (available at the bottom of this post)
Writing Utensil
Plate or Bowl
Water
Brown Lunch Bags
The first thing you do with a taste test is purchase your food. As I said, there a lot of Goldfish Crackers to choose from. For this Family Fun Night activity, I decided to stick with all savory flavors and leave the sweet ones like Vanilla Cupcake and S’mores for a different night. I figured it would be harder for the kids to distinguish the flavors if I did it that way and I have a 13 year old to try and stump! So, for our first round of the Goldfish Cracker Taste Test, we tested out a lot of the “Flavor Blasted” varieties, as well as Cheddar, Original and Pretzel.
The next thing you want to think about after you purchase your food items is how you are going to conceal the flavor identities from your tasters! Like, I won’t buy the food when they are with me and I hide it all as soon as I get home. When it comes to the actual tasting, I label the food by letters (to correlate with my record sheets) and then place the food inside labeled brown lunch sacks. However, because you have blindfolded participants, it isn’t truly necessary. Although, I have to say, it makes the taste test feel more official to the kids AND I am not sure blindfolds on kids is the most reliable way to cover their eyes!
Next on your list? Print your record sheet (below) and gather your tasters! As I said, I think taste tests are a perfect screen free Family Fun Night Activity because adults and kids alike enjoy this and can participate. However, we also have had fun inviting other friends and kids in the neighborhood to join us. I tell you, the kids love this activity so much that they will invite their friends to join you and all of sudden, you are the fun mom (pretty much the life goal, right?)!
Your group of tasters will need blindfolds, record sheets, writing utensils, a plate or a bowl and a water in front of them. We start by going over the rules (like no peeking!) and if I have a young crowd, I might even reveal the flavors ahead of time. It makes it a lot easier to identify a food if you know it has to be one of only 6 different flavors. (Well, I would suggest only using 4 flavors if you have a group of solely younger children) I definitely don’t show my teenager the flavors ahead of time, that’s for sure! He has come up with some pretty wild guesses when he has no clue what flavor it is. One more thing that makes it so fun!
After the kids are blindfolded, I place a few Goldfish crackers on a plate or bowl in front of them. After everyone has tasted them, they take off their blindfolds and write down their guesses. Those who take the job as a tester very seriously, will drink water to “cleanse the palette” before moving onto the next flavor. At this point, you can reveal the actual flavor to the group or you can wait to the end and reveal them all at once.
Honestly, I like to reveal them as we go because it’s so funny when they are so off base, but again, some of my family members take this so seriously, they insist we wait and reveal it all at the end. Another option is to reveal the flavors as you go along, but to leave the ratings to the end (Just make sure people write down some notes along the way!). But since this is all in good fun, you can do it however works best for your group.
However you choose to do the ratings and the reveal, you will need a Goldfish Cracker Taste Test Record Sheet to jot down your notes and flavor guesses. You can see the one I created here:
And you can download your own copy here:
What do you think? Will your family members join you in a blind food tasting? If Goldfish Crackers aren’t your thing, what about Oreos or Jelly Beans? We also have a few more coming your way soon that were especially fun. I can be sure you get emailed of new taste tests record sheets as soon as they are up on the blog as well. Also, can you think of any particular items that would be fun to include in our taste tests? Share your ideas below!
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