We started our exploration of baking bread by kneading pre-made biscuit dough and making them in the morning. The children and the teachers talk about the texture, the smell, and the temperature of the dough. We repeated “Patty Cake” rhyme and rolled and patted the dough. After the dough is finished, the children took a walk down to the kitchen and put the dough in the oven. While in the kitchen, the teachers had a conversation with the children in regards to safety. Some children mentioned that the oven was very hot and it might be too dangerous to touch.
After the bread/biscuit were baked, we took another field trip to the kitchen to retrieve them. The aroma of freshly baked biscuit permeated the hallway. We studied the dough and talked about the change in color and the increase in size. Last but certainly not least, we enjoyed the biscuits as a part of our snack. Nothing can taste better than breads shaped and baked by our own hands.
The purpose of this activity is to offer children a shared experience which can be the beginning of our project work on baking bread. Through this baking experience, the children used their senses to understand the various properties of the unbaked dough. As children placed the dough in the oven and witness the before and after appearance of the dough, they gain a basic understanding of the effects of heat on the raw dough. We will be utilizing this activity as the base of future investigation as we continue along.