Over the last few years baking has taken off with children of all ages joining in family fun and even joining in with the famility to watch `Bake Off’.
Do you include baking in your curriculum? Fairy cakes, flapjacks, cookies and bread all are relatively easy activities. Baking bread is one of the simplest baking activities. The comforting smell of baking brings us adults back to our own childhood and reinstates fond memories. This allows us, as the adult, to understand the importance of introducing children to this activity and relate to the wonderful learning opportunities it creates. Lots of opportunities can be created for children to explore their sensory skills such as the smell of something baking and also something burning!
Baking can be very therapeutic for children, as is so with adults. Emotions can be displayed through baking: anger, frustration and happiness. Children can let their creativity run away with them by making different shaped cakes, buns and bread and adding different ingredients such as fruit. Creating and working with different textures and colours allows children to explore and use their imagination and using their own identity in their creativity.
Baking also allows an opportunity for children to use basic math and science skills such as counting eggs, measuring ingredients and pouring into a measuring cup. This creates a great opportunity to explore maths and science as part of your own curriculum.
There are endless benefits to including baking as part of your learning environment. Children are given the opportunity to bring their own thinking and ideas into a project whilst using and learning other skills along the journey. It also creates opportunities to add to a child’s social skills and learn about the benefits of team work.
Baking links to the Aistear themes Identity & Belonging; Communication: Well-Being and Exploring and Thinking. It links to Síolta standards: Environments, Play, Interactions, Health and Welfare and Identity and Belonging. When devising your curriculum and planning, examine the benefits baking would be to the child in your service and how you can include it as part of your curriculum to allow children to get as much as they possibly can from this activity.
Why not try this easy recipe for Ginger Bread from Odlums
Ginger Banana Bread
What you need:
- 225g/8oz Odlums Self Raising Flour
- 125g/4oz Butter (room temperature)
- 200g/7oz Shamrock Light Muscovado Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 large Bananas, mashed
- 1 level teaspoon Goodall’s Ground Ginger
How to:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Grease and base line a 900g/2lb loaf tin.
- Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat for about 2 minutes until well blended.
- Transfer to the prepared tin, level the top with back of spoon and bake in a central oven position for about an 60 minutes.
- When baked, cake should be well risen and golden brown in colour and a skewer inserted into the centre of cake should come out clean.
- Leave in tin to set for a few minutes then transfer to wire tray to cool. Slice thickly to serve.
(www.odlums.ie)
