I mentioned that my 5 year old has fallen for the wonderful stories of Roald Dahl. Although we were reading James and the Giant Peach (which I was really enjoying) he decided we had to stop and read The Twits instead. So, we’ve been reading a couple of chapters each evening and taking a lot of pleasure in it, so much that it inspired a fun baking session.
Yes, we baked a beard in honour of Mr Twit, decorated it – then ate it! We had so much fun we thought we’d share our Twits-inspired activity.
Make an edible Mr Twits gingerbeard biscuit
Mr Twit is famous for his horrible beard, which he never washes and is filled with bits of old food. To make our own version we first drew a good beard shape then used it as a template to cut out an amazing gingerbread beard (I used my never-fail gingerbread recipe here).
After it had been baked and turned a delicious golden brown colour we left them to cool down. I piped around the edge with white icing. I’m not quite sure why I did that but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Then we set up each gingerbeard biscuit on a tray along with an assortment of icing pens, strawberry laces, sprinkles and sweets. The idea was to re-create Mr Twits disgusting beard with our own gingerbread and sweetie version.
The children had fun cramming as many things on to their gingerbeards as possible. The room was very quiet as they concentrated on their biscuits. At one point the gingerbeards looked ok, but they were quickly covered in a colourful, sticky mess! Delicious!
Of course when they had run out of the sweets and icing it was time for the gingerbeard test. Could they hold their beards up for a photo without everything falling off?
Luckily both gingerbeards passed the test and there was a quick photo before they were able to eat their creations. I hope you’ll agree this is a fun way to celebrate Roald Dahl Day this Sunday 13th September!
This year, for the first time, Puffin Books are publishing an edition of the book with a real, hairy beard on the cover (there’s also been a version with Scratch ‘n’ Sniff stickers and even an app, Roald Dahl’s TWIT OR MISS!)
You may also be interested in our other Roald Dahl posts:
15 crafts for celebrating Roald Dahl Day
George’s Marvellous Medicine mud kitchen activity
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-inspired chocolate play dough
26 Comments
Codie
September 10, 2015 at 10:14 amThe Twits is the first book I remember reading! I got it for a birthday and had read half of it before school. It’s such a vivid memory of falling in love with reading <3 I may have to borrow some children and have a go at this myself! x
Natasha
September 10, 2015 at 1:23 pmWow, I haven’t heard about the twits in a long, long time! I remember reading that at school!
Jenni - Odd Socks and Lollipops
September 10, 2015 at 2:36 pmOh wow these are amazing – I love Roald Dahl books and can’t wait for Boo to start reading them when she is a bit older. This is a great way to bring the book to life!
Rachel
September 10, 2015 at 5:23 pmThe look of concentration on both faces as they decorated their Mr Twit is so cute x
Daniella
September 10, 2015 at 5:34 pmThis is brilliant! The twits was one of my daughters favourite books when she was younger.
Claire
September 10, 2015 at 9:13 pmWhat a fab idea! So much fun… Would it be ok to add this to my roald dahl round up please?
jenny
September 10, 2015 at 9:31 pmThanks, we had a lot of fun with it. I would love to be included in your Roald Dahl round up 🙂
Emma Page
September 10, 2015 at 9:13 pmOh my word, I love these! I love Roald Dahl, and the Twits is a favourite of ours too. It’s so lovely to be able to recreate a bit of the book in this way!
leeshastarr
September 10, 2015 at 9:29 pmI have no idea who Mr Twits is 🙁 I feel left out haha. They came out really good though.
Charlotte
September 10, 2015 at 9:38 pmThis is fab! Fun and tasty! I love Roald Dahl!
Emma T
September 10, 2015 at 10:03 pmGreat idea to create and link to books. Certainly gets children thinking about stories they’ve read, as well as getting them in the kitchen
Lucy Melissa Smith
September 10, 2015 at 11:38 pmOoh I love this, it looks like you had an awesome time!
Roald Dahl and gingerbread, two of my favourite things 🙂
You should be very proud of your gingerbread beards, just brilliant
X X
Astrid
September 11, 2015 at 10:23 amWow, Roald Dahl’s stories are totally wonderful, although I don’t remember much about the Twits. I love this gingerbread beard.
Rebecca
September 11, 2015 at 12:58 pmI love ginger bread men myself and my cousin loves baking so we’ll definitely try and do this! x
Sarah Bailey
September 11, 2015 at 2:10 pmhaha I love it! What a fantastic idea and delicious looking gingerbeard 😉
Rebecca Smith
September 11, 2015 at 2:25 pmI love this idea! The Mr Twit biscuit certainly looks delicious!
Ali
September 11, 2015 at 8:13 pmwe love Roald Dahl too! What a fabulous beardy biscuit!
Laura
September 11, 2015 at 11:08 pmOh I love this super fun idea, what a great way to get the kids interested in the books and baking
Laura x
Nadine-Johanna Stewart
September 12, 2015 at 1:12 pmThis looks so good. Do you think I can get away with making one just for me? 😀
Kerry (@Ohsoamelia_blog)
September 13, 2015 at 12:45 amThis looks like a lot of fun to make! I’ll have to do it with my daughter sometime. We enjoyed making a gingerbread house last year at Christmas so I know she would love this. Great post!x
Ickle Pickle
September 15, 2015 at 11:07 ami loved Roald Dahl as a child – still do – but I’ve never read the Twits! I must read them to Pickle Kaz x
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