Decorate biscuit characters

You’ll need

Scrap paper
Pens or pencils
Food colouring
Spoons
Mixing bowls
Biscuits
Icing sugar
Decorations

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Planning this activity

It’s up to you whether you use biscuits or something else, such as rice cakes.
Check for any dietary requirements or allergies and check the ingredients to make sure everyone can use them
Make up a few bowls of icing using icing sugar and water. Add food colouring to some so people have a few colour options.
Put the decorations into bowls. It’s up to you what you use – small sweets and small fruit, such as blueberries and raisins, work well.

Running this activity

Give out pens and paper, then let everyone design their biscuits before icing them.
To start, draw their biscuit's shape onto the paper. You could use gingerbread characters.
They should then design something that makes them happy, such as their favourite flower, their dog, their friends or a sport. It also could be how they look when they’re happy, such as a big smiley face. It’s best to keep the designs simple, as people will have to make them with the icing and decorations you have available.
Before starting to decorate, everyone should wash their hands.
Give everyone a biscuit. You may wish to bake your own biscuits.
Next, everyone should copy their designs and decorate their biscuits with the icing and decorations. The easiest way to get started is by spreading a thin layer of icing over their biscuit using the back of a spoon.
Once everyone’s finished decorating their biscuit, people can look at each other’s designs.
Everyone should enjoy their treat or take it home for later.

Reflection

This activity needed everyone to use their skills to plan ahead to design their biscuit, then decorate it based on what was available. How close were people’s biscuits to their original designs? Did anyone find any parts of this activity tricky? Some people may have found it tricky to spread the icing evenly over their biscuits – it can be hard to get it even, especially if you start with too much or too little icing. This activity was also a chance for everyone to think about the things that make them happy. Everyone should look at all of the biscuits, and take it in turns to call out the things they recreated on their biscuit. While they eat their biscuit, everyone can think of the things that make them happy.

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.

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.