1. The Perfect Plan!

What are your needs?

In order to ensure that your visit to Mayan Monkey Mijas Chocolate Factory meets the academic needs and also suits the age group/ interests of your students, it will be our pleasure to help you design the perfect trip.

We offer a whole range of standard school workshops and, because our multilingual team has years of experience in hosting students of all levels, nationalities and origins, we can tailor-make a trip just for you.

Let us know when you'd like to visit, and we will find the closest-matching availability.
On the other hand, if what you are looking for is a multi-activity excursion to Mijas Pueblo, just let us know. We work closely with the Tourist Office, tour guides, hiking guides and other activity providers here in the village, which means we can help you to create a dynamic trip with lots of 
stops along the way!

School Workshop Times
We offer School Workshops from Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays), from 9am - 2pm.
If you would like to bring your group at a different time, whilst the special school rates may not apply, we will of course do our very best to accommodate you!    

Dietary Restrictions
Please let us know if any of your students have any dietary restrictions, including food allergies or intolerances. We have very strict protocols in place to ensure the safety & enjoyment of all our novice chocolatiers!

Special Needs
Just let us know if any of your students have any special needs or requirements so that we can have everything fully prepared in advance of your arrival.

2. Health & Safety

Safe Space, Safe Visit
 OT Preventiva has been our Health & Safety partner for many years. Since the start of the pandemic, they have been our advisor & guide in relation to navigating the risks associated with covid-19 in the worksplace. With their help, we have developed a series of strict and highly detailed protocols and, when it comes to school trips, we have implemented a number of adaptations to ensure maximum security both for you, your students and our team.

New Safety Measures
- Fully private entrance (for the exclusive use of your group)
- Completely private bathroom for you group.
- During the period of your visit, we separate the shop-café area from the factory-museum area (which is where school activities are held) by closing an interior door. This way, there is no contact whatsoever between your group and the general public.
- Capacity control based on the official restrictions in place during the time of your visit.
- Separation of sub-grupos via movement flow design
- Reduction of touching of shared objects, e.g. ingredient bottles

Capacity Control
Our standard capacity is 60 workshop participants (30 in the factory area/ 30 in the museum area).
The numbers permitted has been subject to fluctuation as one of the measures in place to limit the spread of covid-19 in our activity as well as everywhere else . 
If the numbers in your group is higher than those allowed inside our premises at the time of your visit, we will happily help you in creating a multi-activity visit to Mijas Pueblo in order to create a division within your group, which then allows us all to comply with the regulations.

3. Let's Make Chocolate!

The absolute highlight of the visit to Mayan Monkey Mijas Chocolate Factory is, without doubt, the chocolate-making!

Our chocolate is both organic and ethically sourced, being made primarily with cacao from the Dominican Republic & Peru. Our supply chain is slavery-free: a noteworthy achievement in the chocolate sector and, we are in fact the only chocolate factory in Spain to be recognised by the NGO "Slave Free Chocolate" 

Depending on the particular visit you choose, your students will learn to make different types of chocolate creations (eg. Deco Bars).

Organic & Ethically Sourced Chocolate
Your students can choose from the following organic chocolates:
- dark choc (70% cacao)
- white choc (30% cacao)
- milk choc (39% cacao)
- VEGAN milk choc (with rice milk)
Note: please let us know in advance how many students would like vegan milk chocolate since this requires a special prep ;)

54 ingredients!
As well as the chocolate, there are 54 ingredients to choose from....
Nuts: eg, almonds, cashews, pistachios
Dried Fruits: eg, coconut, kiwi, strawberry, cherries
Seeds: eg, poppy, pumpkin, linseed, sesame
Spices: eg, aniseed, cloves, ginger, nutmeg
Essential Oils: eg, lemon, orange, bergamot, mint
Chocolate Buttons
Cacao Nibs

Certificate of Honour
And, in recognition of their chocolate-making achievements, at the end of the session, each student will receive a certificate with his or her name on it, marking participation in the workshop. The sense of achievement for students of all ages is immense :)

4.  Museum Tour

An exploration of the fascinating origins of chocolate:
Natural Origins: 
learn all about the geography & botany of cacao at our papier maché cacao grove, where the bright colours of the cacao pods and the spider monkey soft toys playing in the branches will catch & hold your students' attention.
Discover how the world's first cacao farmers are now an endangered species, along with our environmental challenges facing cacao & chocolate.

History of Chocolate
Journey through time, stopping off in the era of  "Xocolatl" (the world's first chocolate), the period of the arrival of the Spanish "conquistadores" to Mesoamerica, and discover the link between ancient MesoAmerican cultures (Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayas & Aztecs) & cacao, as well as the key role of Spain in the history & evolution of chocolate.

Bean-to-Bar Process:
We will explore every step involved in the process of converting cacao into chocolate, from the flowering & fruiting of the cacao tree through harvest time, fermentation & drying to shipping of the beans, ending with the different paths taken to create different chocolate types.

Tasting Session
Your students will have the opportunity to try cacao & chocolate during the different stages it passes through in the chocolate factory.
Note: very young children may prefer to avoid bitter cacao, and try chocolate only instead ;)

Meeting the "Grannies"
The students will have the opportunity to see the antique machinery, eg., a "metate"  cacao grinding stone (this tool was first fashioned in 7000 DC), our French cacao roaster born in 1936, as well as two antique Heidelberg printing presses.

5. Customised Segments

Age-Focused Learning
Our two highly engaging segments ensure students are engrossed regardless of their age!

Young children (3  - 11)
In addition to making chocolate, we also do all our own Graphic Design, Paper Engineering, Die Cutting & Package Assembly. Because we have a lot of knowledge & resources to share, a few years ago, we decided to create a "colouring book" version of our chocolate bark box so that our youngest visitors could express themselves artistically whilst also learning about the role of packaging in the chocolate lifecycle. Each little one creates a unique design package and, it is in this that their chocolates are presented at the end of the visit! 

Older Children ( 12 yrs +)
Older students participate is an interactive Chocolate Q&A Session, allowing them to take a deeper look at the most relevant aspects, e.g.,

Language Learning: chocolate as a tool for in foreign language vocabulary acquisition
History: eg, the role of Spain in the History of Chocolate; the evolution of machinery in Chocolate
Ancient Civilization: ej, chocolate & ancient civilizations (e.g., Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayas, Aztecs...)
Science: eg, chocolate tempering & crystalline structure/ reversible v. irreversible change/ fermentation, roasting & microbiology)
Geography: cacao-growing zones & climates
Botany: the varieties of “theobroma cacao”, their properties & cultivation
Business Studies: e.g. responsible tourism, sustainable business, HR
Environmental Studies: ej., sustainability, the future of chocolate conservation & 
Art: eg. creative chocolate techniques.
Design: eg, graphic design, packaging design
 Food Studies: chocolate & healthy eating, hygiene in the chocolate factory.

6. Break, Chocolate Collection & Other Practicalities

Break-Time
After your workshop ends, your delicious chocolate creations need to set and we then need to wrap them for you. This period is the ideal time to enjoy morning snack/play-time.
Because we're located right on the pedestrianised, large & peaceful main square of Mijas Pueblo, all you need to do is walk out our front door and, straight away you're on the square!

Chocolate Collection
Your chocolate will be ready approximately 30 - 45 minutes after workshop conclusion, depending on the number of participants.

For your convenience, the chocolates will be packaged in separate boxes corresponding to each group of students. Just let us know if you'd like us to package it any other way ;)

If you have planned other activities in Mijas Pueblo, you are very welcome to pick your chocolate up at the end of your visit to the village, ie, as you are making your way to your coach, 

Different schools prefer to collect the chocolate in different ways.  Some schools assign the task to a particular teacher who tends to wait behind whilst everyone else heads to the bus.  If this is your case, we will help you carry the chocolate to your car.....since it will likely be necessary to use a trolley to get it there!
Another option is to gather the students in the square, and for each class teacher to hand out the chocolates there and then.....or indeed to take the chocolates to the bus, and hand them out either on the bus or back at school.
Just let us know, and we will adapt to whatever suits you best!