Many young attendees of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2023)’s cake baking workshop might courageously attempt to whip up the principal dessert to celebrate their own birthdays or those of their loved ones, after a fun, hands-on interactive activity they enjoyed at the festival’s popular Cookery Corner.

The workshop saw children participate and take turns in measuring, mixing and baking the ingredients for the most perfect and delicious chocolate cake. The youngsters, aged three and upwards, sat down around a table to blend flour, eggs, water, butter and sugar in the right quantities and whisk them into a smooth cake mix to later set in the oven.

Baking is one of the best gateway activities to introduce children to mainstream cooking, particularly giving young children plenty of opportunity to fine tune their hand-eye coordination while being a fun learning component and bonding experience at the same time.

Lamya, the chief instructor who facilitated the children’s cookery workshop, said: “This is one among many workshops we are offering for young children at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival this year: we have sushi roll and pizza making sessions coming up as well. These fun, interactive workshops allow children to experiment and come up with their culinary creations through trial and error. We give them the tools and measurements to make the recipe but let them do everything themselves and be hands-on with it.”

Activities such as baking tap into children’s motivation and promote learning, play, motor and social skills in them, she added.

SCRF’s popular Cookery Corner has returned this edition with over 33 culinary activities, which will be led by 12 twelve renowned chefs from 9 countries. For more information, visit https://www.scrf.ae/en/home.