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Make space rocket wraps

Blast off with a tasty snack inspired by space rockets.

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You’ll need

  • Ingredients (see recipe card)
  • Knives
  • Plates
  • Chopping boards
  • Access to a first aid kit

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.  
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely. 
  • Make sure you have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.  
  • Check for allergies, intolerances, fasting, food-related medical conditions, eating disorders, food sensitivities or dietary requirements, then adjust the food items used as needed. This may include making sure there’s no cross-contamination of packaging and no cross-contamination during the storage, preparation, cooking and serving. 
  • You may need to use separate chopping boards, equipment and utensils, such as tongs or toasters, for different dietary requirements, allergies and foods. 
  • If you’re unsure, check with the young person and their parents or carers. You can check with the adult directly if it’s a volunteer or helper.
  • Some people may not like certain food textures or tastes and that’s OK. People don’t need to use all the ingredients if they don’t want to, and no-one should be made to try foods if they don’t want to. You can try to find an alternative for them.  
  • Read our guidance on food preparation. 
  • You could run our kitchen hygiene activities before this session.
  • Always have a hand washing station, washing hands regularly throughout this activity, and taking extra hygiene precautions when handling food. If you're using gloves to prepare food, treat them like your hands. Wash any gloves before using them and in between if necessary.
  • Spray and wipe down all working surfaces and tables with anti-bacterial spray before and after use, and wash any equipment you’re using in hot soapy water.
  • Take extra hygiene precautions when handling raw meat, such as regular hand washing.
  • Keep raw and ready-to-eat foods separate, having separate equipment for raw and cooked meat, and washing up equipment as soon as it's been used. 
  • Make sure food is properly cooked before you serve it. Always cut through poultry and meat to make sure it's fully cooked, especially when barbecuing food. Make sure it's cooked slowly and thoroughly, and not just done on the outside.
  • Always follow cooking instructions and never use food past its use-by date. 
  • Keep food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible. 
  • At the start of this activity, remind everyone of kitchen or indoor cooking safety rules and how to act safely. Always tie hair back, tuck in neckers and loose clothing, and wear closed toe shoes. Read our kitchen safety tips.
  • You may want to run a demonstration on how to use the equipment safely, such as for cooking or chopping ingredients. You could use our kitchen safety activitiesbefore this session.
  • Make sure any cooking equipment or heat sources, such as ovens and hobs, always have adult supervision, including during free time and arrival times. If anyone struggles with sensing danger, you should consider providing extra adult supervision. This could be especially helpful at unstructured times, such as breaks or waiting to cook.
  • Remind everyone to keep their fingers away from any knives. You may want to use blunt, child-friendly knives, or you could also have ingredients pre-chopped.
  • If you’re using a gas stove, tabletop hob plates or a mini oven, make sure it’s on a stable heatproof surface and in a clear and open area, with plenty of ventilation. Gas appliances and sources can increase risk of carbon monoxide exposure. Read our guidance on different cooking methods and carbon monoxide.
  • You may want to put child-safe locks on cupboard doors to prevent access by young people, especially for cupboards containing matches, cleaning products or chemicals.
  • People can work in small groups or as a whole group to bake or cook. Each group should have adult supervision.
  • You may want to be in groups, but everyone to use the same cooking source, rather than having each group have their own.
  • You may wish for groups to make or prepare the ingredients in a wider, more spacious area, then invite each group into the kitchen to cook one at a time. 
  • Remember the groups not using the kitchen or cooking will still need to be supervised, always following the Yellow Card. 
  • Make sure you have all the ingredients ready. You may want to pre-chop or pre-measure some activities. 

Space rocket wrap recipe

  • Wraps 
  • Inside fillings, such as cheese, hummus, ham, tomatoes, lettuce, chocolate spread or jam
  • For savoury rockets: bell pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, cheese slices
  • For sweet rockets: strawberry, banana, apple, satsumas, blueberries, grapes, pineapple 

Preparation time

  • Prep time: 20 mins
  • Cook time: 0 mins
  • Makes: 1 wrap 

Running this activity

  1. Gather everyone around and tell them that today they will learn about the different parts of a rocket, then making a fun snack inspired by space rockets.
  2. Ask if anyone knows what a rocket is. 
  3. Explain that rockets are machines that help power people and things into space. Precisely, they’re any spacecraft or aircraft that’s powered by a rocket engine. A rocket engine works like an engine in a car - burning fuel to create motion. In a rocket engine, the fuel is set on fire and this produces hot gas. The hot gas comes out of the bottom of the rocket, pushing it upwards. A way to demonstrate this is by letting the air out of an inflated balloon. As the air is pushed out of the balloon, the balloon moves in the opposite direction. Spaceships or spacecraft are slightly different. These are where we store the things we want to get to space. It's sat right at the very top of the rocket. We often think of this being where people sit when travelling into space, but we don't always send people, sometimes we only send equipment or robots. The spacecraft controls its own flight once it has reached space. Once the spacecraft is in space, it’s free from gravity and everything floats around. (Source: The Schools’ Observatory, Liverpool John Moore University) 
  4. Ask if anyone can remember what a rocket looks like or if they can name any parts of a rocket. You may want to share a picture or ask people to draw it.
  5. Explain that rockets are split up into several parts. There are four main parts of a rocket. The first is called the structure. This is the main body of the rocket that everything else sits within. Rocket structures have a familiar shape. A long cylinder with a pointy top and fins on the bottom. The bottom part of the rocket is al called the propulsion system, which is basically the rocket engine. This is where al the fuel lives ready to be mixed and set alight. There’s also a small guidance system near the top. This tells people on the ground where the rocket is pointing. People on the ground can then change its direction using computers on board the rocket. The last part of a rocket sits right at the top and makes up the pointy bit, usually called the nose cone. It's called a payload, but we often think of this bit as the spacecraft. It has inside it everything important which you want to make it to space, and usually back to the Earth. (Source: The Schools’ Observatory, Liverpool John Moore University) 

Getting ready to cook 

  • Everyone should wash their hands and gather in a circle.  Tell everyone you’re going to make a date shake.
  • Now, everyone should get into smalls groups and gather their ingredients and equipment. 
  • You may wish to ask the group before the session what fillings and ingredients they would like. 

Make your space rockets 

  1. Everyone should take a wrap, add their fillings and then roll it up. It can be placed in the middle of the plate. This’ll be the main body of their rocket.
  2. You could also use pancakes and cut the shapes out of pancakes, rather than wraps.
  3. Next, make a nose-cone shaped triangle into one end of the wrap. You could cut it using a knife or scissors, or tear the wrap.
  4. The rocket needs some fins. Cut two triangles out of one of the ingredients. For example, you could use cheese slices, or apple or orange segments. 
  5. Place the fins at the sides of the rocket wrap. 
  6. Next, your rocket needs some flames. You need to cut some long slices of one of the ingredients and place them at the bottom of the rocket. You could cut peppers, cucumber and carrots into sticks, or you could use apple, oranges or strawberry slices.
  7. Next, let’s add some windows. Choose some ingredients and slice them to get some circle shapes. You could use baby tomatoes, carrots or cucumbers. You could also use grapes, bananas or blueberries. Place them down the middle of the rocket wrap.
  8. Everyone can get creative and add any other details to their rocket wrap. They could cut out some star shapes, add some planets or add some more details to the rocket.
  9. When you’re finished, enjoy trying your space rocket wrap! 

Reflection

This activity was all about rockets. What can you remember about rockets? Rockets are machines that help power people and things into space. What do you think your rocket would take into space and where would it be going? Can you remember what a spacecraft is? What do you think it’s like to be aboard a spacecraft?  

We also made some tasty rocket wraps, and we had lots of different ingredients to choose from. Why did you choose? Did you try anything new or that you hadn’t tasted before? You had to peel, slice and chop all the ingredients to make them into the rocket shapes. Do you think they looked good as the different rocket parts? Was there any part that was harder to make?  What did your wrap taste like? What else do you think you could make from a wrap, such as animals? 

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Sharp objects

Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Food

Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.

Cooking

Teach young people how to use cooking equipment safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Make sure it’s safe to use and follow manufacturers’ guidelines for use.

  • To make this activity easier, you could pre-cut all the fruit and veg. You could also have pictures of rockets for people to copy.
  • To make this activity harder, you could try and make a more detailed rocket scene, such as adding in Earth or an alien. 
  • There are lots of loud noises, sitting and different smells when eating, which may overwhelm some people. People may choose to wear ear defenders while eating, move around while eating or sit in a separate space to everyone and that’s OK.
  • Be conscious about who may be fasting when providing snacks, eating and drinking – you may want to plan this activity for when everyone can get involved or leave out the eating and drinking part.
  • Remember to check your ingredients against any allergy or dietary requirements to ensure everyone can enjoy the recipe. This may mean using alternative ingredients.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Squirrels Space Explorer Activity Badge
Beavers Space Activity Badge
Beavers Cook Activity Badge

If you enjoyed this activity, make sure to launch further into space and try out some other activities!