Make some tasty biscuits

• Take a look at 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. Take a look at 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 activities before 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. Take a look at 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.

Here are a few ideas for making shaped or iced biscuits.

• You can find squirrel cookie cutters online. Beaver and Cub cookie cutters are a bit harder to find, but you could try making your own template.
• You could use your hands to shape your dough into animal shapes. If you want to keep it simple, roll the dough to make worms, snakes, and snails.
• You could use melted chocolate (make sure it’s not too hot to touch) or icing to add some details. You could also use sprinkles and biscuit crumbs to add texture and details.
• You could use red and black icing to make ladybird biscuits. Cover the biscuits in red liquid icing, then roll solid black icing to make a tiny line across the middle of each biscuit. Add tiny balls of solid black icing, and your ladybird has their spots. You can even use the spots to practise counting.
• You could use red and yellow icing to make bee biscuits. Cover the biscuits in yellow liquid icing, then roll solid black icing to make stripes along the bee. You can use the stripes to practise counting.

Baking’s a really fun activity, and it’s full of opportunities to learn and try new things. Here are our top tips for keeping everyone engaged:

• Encourage everyone to use their listening skills to follow the recipe. Can they remember what to do first?
• If anyone’s started to learn to read, they could practise reading some of the words (or recognising some of the numbers) in the recipe.
• Try to support everyone to take it in turns to get stuck in. People can share jobs like finding and weighing the ingredients and mixing everything together. They could take it in turns to roll out the dough, or you could give everyone their own piece to roll out.
• Remind people to wash their hands again when they need to, including if they touch their face or handle raw egg (including touching the dough).
• An adult should put the baking tray into the oven. When it’s ready, an adult should take it out and leave it somewhere out of reach. The adult should help everyone understand that the oven and tray get really hot, so it’s important not to touch them. They should explain that they’re wearing oven gloves to keep their hands safe.