My children love having the chance to get involved in making rotis. It is almost like playing with play dough for them, but with the added benefit of getting to eat the bread at the end of the roti making activity.

The rotis don’t come out perfectly, but I view it more as having fun and a learning experience. They feel so proud of the rotis they make and are really keen to eat it up!

Making shaped rotis with kids - this is lots of fun for them, and the dough can be used like edible playdough

It is really easy to make, you just mix chapati flour and water (if you are not sure how much, go with a guideline of 3 parts flour to 1 part water, but adjust if necessary)

Then knead it until it turns into a soft dough. If you want to you can add some oil which will make it softer, and you can also add some salt as optional if you want to. If you don’t have chapati flour in your house, you can try it with any flour – it will still be fun for the kids and still makes a similar kind of bread!

children roti making activity

Getting ready to make some shapes in the dough

Put some flour onto the table so that the dough won’t stick while the children make their shapes.  I let them have their fun using cookie cutters to choose whichever shapes they like

using biscuit cutters to cut out shapes from the dough

If it was an adult making this properly, the dough should be rolled a lot thinner than this!

As you can see I let them keep the dough a bit thicker, it just makes it easier for them to make the shapes and enjoy the activity but your rotis will come out a bit thicker than a normal one!

boy getting ready to make his shapes from the dough

Cutting out his shapes

cutting out shapes from dough

A gingerbread man and a bell shape

Taking out the shapes from the dough without tearing them can be a bit tricky for the younger ones, but good for the fine motor skills!

raw dough of the gingerbread man shaped roti in the pan before cooking

Raw gingerbread man roti, ready to be cooked!

You can just cook it in a non stick frying pan, doesn’t matter if you don’t have a proper tava. I do them in a pan from Ikea.

cooked gingerbread man shaped roti in the pan

Gingerbread man roti is cooked

It won’t take long, just a couple of minutes each side. I sometimes just start doing some while the kids are finishing making the other shapes from the rest of their dough. For children that are slightly older, you could let them do this part too but I feel mine are too young.

boy eating gingerbread man shaped roti with daal

My 4 year old eating one of the rotis he made

They always love eating the ones they made! Especially my 4 year old he always asks for more! As you can see its quite a thick roti because I don’t roll it thinly for them – but taste is fine!

small star shaped roti bread made by children

Some smaller star shaped ones

The children can make any shape they like! The small star shaped ones are good for my youngest who’s not yet two.

If your children like play dough then they will probably like this activity, and you end up with half of their dinner made too so it is a handy multi tasking activity 😀