Kids in the Kitchen
In the Spring I was approached by a group of parents who were looking for cookery workshops for their children. Delighted by the prospect of more children learning how to cook and gaining some life long cookery skills I set about designing a series of cookery classes for the children.
The outcome? A ten week cookery club for the children, with a class for 7-12 year olds and a class for 4-6 year olds.
The children were to work towards gaining their I Can Cook certificate and cookery badge whilst working with us to cook a wide selection of recipes and gain knowledge in basic nutrition and healthy living along with cooking skills. Along with the recipe packs for each week, each child was given a Cooking Learning Journey to record their cooking adventures and cookery skills along the way.
Many of our cookery classes are one off events and we love when we get repeat bookings so the children can get to know us and vice versa. It's a treat with our work in schools where we can really get to know the children over a term and they can settle into the way our classes run and how we teach.
With these workshops we started with a shy and quiet group of 24 children who quickly turned into confident young cooks, keen to share their cooking passion with us and join us week after week to cook some fantastic dishes.
Our classes for the 7-12 year olds focused on cookery skills, food hygiene and developing confidence in the kitchen whilst using recipes from around the world to broaden their knowledge of ingredients.
Making their own Thai Green Curry paste, kneading their Italian Potato Focaccia, becoming extremely competent in safe knife skills are just a small selection of cookery skills the children learnt in class. I think a firm favourite with everyone, boys and girls is baking though. There's nothing more satisfying or mouthwatering than a freshly baked cake out of the oven is there!
Cookery classes for the 4-6 year olds focused on healthy and fun recipes - looking at nutrition and new cookery skills for them to develop with us in class as well as at home. Dishes ranged from Mexican wraps, mini omelettes, fish pie to chicken noodles along with perhaps the best cherry scones I have ever tasted! In all of our classes the children get to take home what they've made - I often look longingly at a sweet treat (my weakness) and I was thrilled when the group said I could try a scone, they were incredible, well done everyone!
With recipes from Meze dishes to Thai, along with Baking and meat preparation we covered a broad horizon of cookery skills, encouraging the children to try new ingredients and skills that they might otherwise have shied away from.
The ten classes flew by and we've had some excellent feedback from the parents and children.
"A massive thank you to Bethan and Steve, my kids have really enjoyed the course and learnt so much, this is really a reflection on you, your passion for cooking and teaching style. Looking forward to more courses for them in the near future."
I'm now putting together a monthly club for the group so we can continue our cooking together, looking at more cuisines from around the world whilst developing their cookery skills and interest further - a Tapas Class, Fresh Pasta, Edible Gifts for Christmas among many more themes.
If you have a group of children who are keen to cook we'd be delighted to set up a cookery club that suits your needs, tailoring classes to the children to ensure they get the most out of their time in our classes. Email bethan@foodattwelve.com for further information.
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