Hygge Friday

Guest Post by: Sam Goldsworthy 

Since undertaking the Hygge accreditation we have really embraced the feeling of togetherness and cosiness. The one thing that struck a positive chord with us when reading about life in Denmark was the way they come together on a Friday afternoon to enjoy cake and celebrate the end of the week. We thought ‘wow’ we could do easily achieve this in our setting. So we originally planned to bake each Friday morning and come together in the afternoon to enjoy our bakes with a hot chocolate or a warm milk and reflect on the adventures that we have had together during the week.

Our Hygge Friday developed to include ‘voting'. So we would choose two recipes and ensure we had ingredients for both. We placed a picture with each bake with the wording underneath for the children to be able to read or visualise the choices depending on their age and stage of development. They would often ponder then, would choose a bake and write their name under the bake that they wished to vote for. This introduces ownership, child-led choice, an opportunity to mark make for the younger children and for the preschoolers to practise writing their name. Sometimes these choices will tie in with a theme such as Diwali, Children in Need, Valentine's Day or even a birthday in the setting.

Once we have chosen our bake. We gather the ingredients together taking it in turns to follow the recipe weighing and adding in each ingredient to make our bake. We use the maths number stones next to the scales to encourage number recognition as well as also using our method stones so we know what method we are using such as mixing, rolling, pouring. We bake many simple recipes such as buns, muffins, scones and bread rolls as well as harder recipes such as hot cross buns, Swiss rolls it is a great  opportunity for both adults and children. They also get to use many different tools such as a grater, peeler, safety knives, zester etc which is a great way to strengthen those arm and hand muscles that will be used for writing in the future. People ask about allergies and do we still bake if there is a child who has an allergy. The answer is YES we adapt the recipes where we can.

It is a great chance to include hands on maths as we would count each sheets vote and write the number practising number formation as well as comparing each board to see which bake won. We also have introduced a weekly affirmation card to our setting.  Examples are  I’ am kind‘ ‘ I am amazing’ ‘I am proud’   These cards are part of our continuous provision and are changed weekly to encourage the children to think about the quote during the week. These are the topic of conversation during our Hygge bake time and the children will all contribute their ideas to the discussion providing some amazing examples. We may also discuss a famous person during our time together. Recently it was Rosa Parks which they were all interested and not at all happy she was not allowed on the bus because of her skin colour. This linked back to our affirmation ‘we are amazing’

The children would also help to lay the table by setting out the correct number of cups and saucers as well as writing name labels for themselves and their younger friends. This is a great way to incorporate some phonics practise too for our preschoolers. They would also wash and dry their dishes afterwards which is a fab way to encourage independence and ownership. This became a ritual in our setting and our children will often ask ‘Is it Hygge Friday yet?’ They call it ‘our celebration’

It really is a cosy togetherness experience full of hands on rich learning opportunities.

Here are some of our favourite recipe bakes -

Easy Peasy Shortbread

Ingredients

150g plain flour

​​100 g butter

​​50 g caster sugar

Method - ​Place all the ingredients into the bowl and mix using your hands to create ​​​​breadcrumbs then a dough. Roll onto a floured surface and create any shape you ​​​wish. We have made so many different shapes including bugs, dinosaurs and ​​​​fairies. ​Bake at 170c for 15 minutes take out to cool and harden.

Cheese Scones

Ingredients ​ 

225g self raising flour

​​1 tsp baking powder

​​55 g butter

​​120g grated cheese

​​90ml - 100ml milk

Method - ​Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix using your hands to resemble ​​​​breadcrumbs. Add in the cheese then make a well and add the milk a little at a time ​​to create a dough. Roll the dough out ensuring it is still a relative thickness and use ​​a cutter to create your circle scones. Bake at 200c for 15-20 mins.