There are a number of activity sheets available on this site.

They have been produced for use with 7-11 year olds and can be downloaded or printed to use with children at home, as well as in school. They are:

• Being a bread detective: finding out about bread
• Use your loaf: trying out different ways of using bread
• Get toasting: making a toasted sandwich
• Having a go with bread: baking with bread mixes

Other useful website links

The case study, on Wright's Bread Mixes, is designed for 14-19 year olds. It can be used in school as part of work planned by the teacher, for homework or as part of students' own self-supported study.

It tells the story of milling and manufacturing at Wright's, presents students with things to think about and do, and signposts additional resources for finding out more.

Encourage children to 'think aloud', to talk through what they are doing as they do it, by asking them questions, egs. "Can you talk me through what you are doing", "That looks interesting, can you explain it to me?"

Use correct terms for foods and processes rather than using 'child's talk'. This will be more helpful to their language development, egs. "Stir the ingredients together to make a dough" rather than "Mix it all up until it is gooey".

Help children to make a list of bready words. Set a challenge such as finding a new bready word every day. This could become a family game where everyone has to find ways of bringing these words into everyday conversation for a week.

If children find descriptive words difficult, use a similar word that they do know, egs. 'sounds like', 'ryhymes with', 'tastes like', 'smells like', 'looks like'. Build up a work bank. Children could produce the words using fonts and effects on the computer and make a set of flash cards, or turn them into fridge magnets.

Use descriptive words to describe food characteristics with children, egs:
Appearance - What does it look like on the outside? If we cut it open and look at the inside? What colour is it? What shape and size is it?
Aroma - What does it smell like?
Taste/flavour - What does it taste like?
Texture (mouthfeel) - What does it feel like in the mouth?

Play guessing games with foods, egs. "I am flat and shaped like a teardrop - which bread am I?" (Answer: Naan bread)

For really revolting recipes and fun with food visit www.roalddahl.com

Measuring, weighing, or estimating about weight, area, length, capacity, time, egs. How many rolls can be made from a quantity of dough? If the rolls double in size when they prove, how much space should be left between rolls on the baking sheet? How much longer do you think it will take for the rolls to be cooked? How long did it take for the bread to rise?

Counting activities, egs. the number of bread rolls in a batch, spoonfuls in a bread mix, slices in a loaf? or what is the third ingredient in the list?

Working accurately and with precision, egs. when dividing bread dough into equal pieces to make rolls or other bread shapes, working out how many slices of bread are needed to make a sandwich for everyone in the family.

Making comparisons, egs. Which loaf contains the most fibre? Which extraction rate produces flour with the least fibre?

Sorting exercises, egs. sorting bread into types and sizes and deciding on largest, smallest, brownest, most risen, most favourite.

Help children with sensory evaluation, tasting and testing, comparing products, egs. Which one does gran prefer? Which one turned out the best? Which shape and size is the most liked? Which is the best value for money?

Encourage children to evaluate food products, including those they have made, and to describe:

• foods they like and dislike
• foods they have tasted
• ingredients they are using
• how ingredients change in characteristics as they are processed, egs. what happens when they are mixed or cooked?

Carry out surveys to find out about people as consumers, egs. to discover people's preferences.

Interview a relative or neighbour over 45 years old to find out what they remember about bread when they were young. What was different or the same, egs. about the types and variety available, what it tasted like, where it was made or bought?

Find out about bread packaging, egs. look in local shops at the range of packaging types, discuss why bread needs to be wrapped and what happens to all the waste.

Learn about shopping activities and consumer behaviour, egs. Where do we shop and why? How much money per week does the family spend on bread? How much choice is available at the local baker's shop? Comparing the cost of different types of bread, egs. speciality bread against a typical sliced loaf, why the price differences?

Teach children about the social and cultural role that food plays in our lives, egs. finding out about the role of bread as a staple food. Why is bread called 'the staff of life'?

Get children to find examples of bread used for festivals and special occasions. Keep the ideas in a scrap book or stick them up on a kitchen bulletin board or wall.

Take children on a journey of discovery, egs. where does wheat come from and what journey does it take to become flour?

Give children the opportunity to get 'hands on' with food and to practise making to develop their dexterity and food skills, egs. a home baking session, using recipes and trying out ideas or involving children in some of the daily food preparation.

Try out own ideas with bread mixes and bread recipes, egs. adapting recipes, modifiying the appearance, texture, flavour or shape of breads. This helps children to develop creativity and innovation for things they can do with food. Join the Wright's Home Baking Club for ideas and recipes.

Develop planning and organisational skills by producing lists, flow charts and plans, egs. How to make a toasted sandwich? What ingredients and equipment are needed? What is the step-by-step process to follow for making?

Support children to make decisions and choices, egs. Which ingredients will you add to your bread and why?

Reinforce personal hygiene and safety in the home by building on safe working practice learnt at school. Keep the safety and hygiene rules and procedures simple and make sure that children understand why they are important.

If you have a computer at home, or can use one at the local library or community centre, this can be a useful support to children's learning.

Learn together - even if you are not confident about using a computer, your child probably is and may well be able to teach you!

At primary school children should be learning to use:

• Word processing and text editing software (moving text around, cutting and pasting)
• Graphics packages, egs. for drawing what their bread will look like, how a sandwich will stack up in layers, or for producing a flow chart or plan
• Spreadsheets for calculations, egs. costings, producing graphs and charts
• Databases to store and retrieve information. eg. a recipe database
• Internet and software for research, gathering information, finding out more

• Find out what children are learning about bread and baking in school. If you have sparetime , offer to help out, egs. with practical work, accompanying a class on a visit.
  
  
• Schools will rarely turn down the offer of extra help if they can use it.

• Collect information that might be useful for a topic and send this into school, egs. photos, magazines, books, wrappers or packaging, historical items.
  
  
• Speak to the teacher first to check that it is useful, or send a note to explain what the material is and why you are sending it.
  
  
  

• As an adult you are a source of information and expertise, a useful resource. The same aplies to family, friends an those who live and work in your community.
  
  
• Children could interview you, egs. about food preferences, or about what you remember of bread from your childhood.
  
  

• If possible, take your child to a mill, bakery or museum to gain first hand experience of the topic they are learning about at school.
  
  
• Help them to share that information back at school, egs. by putting together a scrap book that other children can look at, producing a photo-record or producing a multi-media presentation of their visit.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• To get a sense of what children might be doing at school check out the
  Bringing Baking to Life Grid which maps opportunities for learning about flour, bread and baking across the curriculum, and by age.