Summertime offers lots of different camps for kids, including camps that teach kids how to cook. Kids can sign up for a fun cooking class and learn basic skills, like following a recipe and using kitchen equipment safely. Some camps are held in gardens or farms, like the one in the picture above at Plumcot Farm, a small regenerative family farm in Malibu. When kids prepare food they pick from an organic garden, they understand how they are connected to what is alive on the planet. Learning to cook from scratch can be a live changing experience as kids learn healthy habits for a lifetime.
At a cooking class, kids discover that whole foods, prepared with fresh ingredients are tastier than eating junk food that are high in calories and low in nutrients with too much sugar, fat, and salt, plus the unnatural ingredients that help foods last longer and travel better. Organic whole foods from the Farmers Market help end childhood obesity and other diet related diseases. Kids can feel apart of the web of life, when they consider where their food came from, the farmers, the soil, wind, rain, and sun that produced the ingredients. When kids grow their own organic backyard garden, they want try new foods and eat what they grow. They remember how they planted the seed, watered the soil, and harvested the veggies that went into the dish they are eating.
Kids’ minds and senses awaken to new flavors and experiences in cooking classes. Kids learn math skills, reading comprehension, logical thinking, science skills, and hand-eye coordination preparing the food and following the recipe. Kids have a feeling of accomplishment, confidence, and self-esteem when they can create a meal that brings the family together and creates healthy eating habits.
Cooking Magic for Kids 