I KNOW, I know, you're trying to get on with sewing on name tapes and trying to find the school socks stuffed down the back of the drawer, meanwhile your children think they're still on holiday and want to be entertained.

If you can't turn them out into the garden, or over to granny's, then get them in the kitchen instead. And if you're granny, then maybe you'd like to stock up on the cake mixes too. OK, it's not proper cooking, but it gets children into the kitchen, gives them instant results, something to eat when they've finished and it could spark an interest in greater things later. And the best thing about most of these is, except for the very young, they need little adult supervision - so you can get on with the name tapes.

ASDA DOUBLE CHOC CHIP COOKIE 79p

Just add: Butter and water.

What a mess! The instructions on these, while clear enough, weren't geared towards children. Having put the mix with water, and a chunk of butter into a bowl, the instruction is: "Knead the ingredients". Do you know how far double choc chip cookie mix can fly all over the kitchen? Do you realise how much un-kneaded butter can get under the nails and into the hair of the average five year old? Well, we do. And it's not a pretty sight.

Adult supervision: A lot, if only to keep the kitchen clean.

Verdict: Fun if you can stand the mess.

WRIGHT'S PREMIUM WHITE BREAD MIX 82P SAINSBURY'S MEXICAN BREAD MIX 75p

These were the surprise success. Frankly, faced with a choice between gooey chocolate cakes and plain old bread, we thought our testers would go straight for the goo. No, the bread was a firm hit.

Just add: Water.

But then you have to knead it - which they did enthusiastically and clearly enjoyably. Leaving it so that it almost doubled in size was pretty magic too. Each packet makes two small loaves. They demolished one of the loaves while still warm, feeling very proud of themselves.

Verdict: Excellent. Great fun, very satisfying - and after all that kneading, both breads tasted surprisingly good and testers had a real sense of achievement.

CADBURY'S FUDGE MIX £2.19

This was one they were very keen to make as they look like the Cadbury's cakes you buy in the shops.

Just add: Egg, water, oil.

These were clearly aimed at children and the instructions were very clear, with pictures to help. They advise you to use an electric whisk, but we had excellent results with an ordinary balloon whisk and it still was very quick - and probably less messy. BUT you have to melt sachets of fudge mix and chocolate icing in just boiled water. They advise you not to let children do this and it is a tricky and possibly dangerous/messy business.

Verdict: Excellent results, but even quite capable children will need watching or help.

GREEN'S BART'S BISCUITS £1.39

Just add: Water.

These make eight biscuits in a Bart Simpson shape. Well, sort of. Very easy to make - excellent instructions - and lots of rolling and kneading. The Bart-shaped cutters left a perfect outline - until the biscuits cooked, when it was tricky to trace Bart's distinctive features which had blobbed rather. However, there were white buttons for the eyes and black icing to draw his face. After the first two, our testers just ate the buttons and made patterns with the icing.....

Verdict: Quite good fun to make, but don't expect perfect results.

SUPERCOOK JUNIOR BAKERS GINGERBREAD KIDS £1.42

Just add: Water.

Boy and girl gingerbread cutters, plus some chocolate chips and three tubes of coloured goo to decorate with. Very easy to mix and roll and cut out. Gingerbread people more or less held their shapes though some blurred into each other a bit.

Verdict: Easy to make, the main aim of these was the decorating afterwards and no one seemed keen to eat the results.

BETTY CROCKER'S COOKIE MIX £2.09

Just add: Water, oil, egg and mix it all up.

Instructions very clear. Easy for very tinies. Makes 20 excellent cookies.

Adult supervision: Minimal.

Verdict: Quick, simple, clean and tasty.

GREEN'S FLOWERPOT BAKING KIT £2.99

This was definitely different - a small tub containing three little flower pots, baking cases, and two lots of ready mix - one for bread and one for muffins.

Just add: Water, egg.

The best thing about these is that you pop the mixture in the baking cases into the flower pots to cook. There was enough for three bread rolls and three muffins, which overflowed the pots perfectly and looked quite magic. There was bright green icing and rainbow-coloured sprinkles to decorate the muffins. The nice touch is that the kit also includes some sunflower stickers, with which to decorate the pots, and some sunflower seeds. So after you've made and eaten the bread and the cake, you can grow sunflowers.

Verdict: Gimmicky but good. Two mixes meant twice the fun and the sunflower seeds were a nice touch - just make sure they don't confuse them with the sprinkles.

Published: 31/08/2001