A baking session making Cornbread

The children in baby plus at Daisykins day nursery had great fun participating in the National Children's Food Festival bread challenge. The challenge was to bake a yummy bread from around the world and baby plus chose to make corn bread from America.Before starting the experience the children were all encouraged to wash their hands whilst the ingredients were all measured out into separate containers ready for them to mix together into a big bowl. As the ingredients were added together in the bowl the children were encouraged to count the ingredients such as 2 eggs and one teaspoon of salt, this is a fun way for the children to engage in developing mathematical skills without even realising they are doing it.The children all took it in turns  adding the ingredients which promoted Personal, Social and Emotional skills. These skills were further promoted by key persons being close by to support the children in their new explorations.Physical skills such as gross and fine motor skills were also supported through this activity by using the big wooden spoon to mix together the ingredients and using pincer grips to pick up pieces of sweet corn to add to the mixture.The practitioners joined in sensitively with the experience encouraging the children to be independent in using the spoon, developing language and communication skills by talking about the mixture and asking some open ended questions and providing support if needed.After all the ingredients had been mixed together the children helped to pour the mixutre into the baking tray and then a practitioner placed it into the oven to cook. Once it was cooked and cooled everyone enjoyed trying the bread, the deputy manager tasted a piece of the bread and said it was delicious! Baby plus scored a 7 out of 10 which was the winning score but everyone had great fun and learnt some new skills too.