Kids in the Kitchen

Cooking schools for pint-sized chefs

Many kids love to be in the kitchen and encouraging them to cook is a great way to build their confidence, teach them the importance of following directions, and sharpen their language, math, and science skills. If your child is an up-and-coming chef hankering to take lessons, check out this sampling of the top kid’s cooking schools around the country.

Bean Sprouts Cafe, Madison, Wisconsin
www.beansproutscafe.com
A hip, healthy kids’ café, Bean Sprouts offers Bitty Bakers classes—nutritious cooking courses for toddlers and grade schoolers. Classes where Girl Scouts earn their cooking badges and adopted kids learn about dishes from their birth countries are top picks. Under the guidance of a child nutritionist, Gale Gand, renowned chef, author, and Food Network celeb, Bean Sprouts Café keeps things healthful and fun.

Batter Up Kids, Austin, Texas
www.kidscookingshop.com
Batter Up Kids is the quintessential kids' cooking school that steers away from precooked classes and provides personalized, interactive courses that focus on healthier foods options. Programs are action packed and give kids a strong nutritional values by encouraging healthy lifestyle choices. Classes for kids aged 2 1/2 to 4 are designed for adult and child cooking teams. After-school classes for kindergartners and older kids are also available, as well as holiday and summer camp programs. Pick a theme or ask the school to devise one for your child’s interests.

What’s Cooking, San Francisco, California
www.whatscooking.info
What’s Cooking is a certified green company in the San Francisco Bay area that offers cooking classes for kids and promotes locally grown, seasonal, and organic produce whenever possible. What’s Cooking doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar school but teaches classes in rec centers, schools, and client’s homes. Group cooking workshops and private lessons for students aged 8 and older are available.

Kroger School of Cooking, Alpharetta, Georgia
www.kroger.com
Thirty minutes outside Atlanta, the Kroger School of Cooking offers classes for children and holds a cooking day camp each summer for kids aged 7 to 14. In a 700-square-foot facility with state-of-the-art equipment, instructors cover food safety guidelines, nutritional education, menu planning, and kitchen safety.

The Institute of Culinary Education, New York City, New York
www.iceculinary.com
The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) offers kids cooking courses year-round, stressing the use of healthful, fresh ingredients. They are also plenty of classes for adults to enjoy as well.

Apron Strings, San Francisco, California
www.apronstringssf.com
Apron Strings offers weeklong workshops for kids aged 10 and older, including basic cooking skills and native cuisines from Japan, Greece, India, and Italy. Students read recipes and food labels, master good nutrition practices, and cook soup, salads, bread, entrees, and desserts.

Johnson & Wales University Kid’s Chef Choice Classes, Charlotte, North Carolina
www.jwu.edu
The esteemed adult cooking school also school offers classes for kids aged 11 to 16 in its state-of-the-art facility. Lessons cover everything from basic measuring skills to dining etiquette.

Create-a-Cook, Newton, Massachusetts
http://createacook.com
At Create-a-Cook kids learn to cook in a safe environment built just for them. Classes with top-of-the-line equipment and experienced instructors provide kids aged 3 to 15 with fun, friendly food play with a focus on fresh, in-season ingredients and the creation of balanced meals. Yet they don’t shy away from sophisticated veggies, herbs, and complex cooking techniques. Bonus: Kids come home with a complete dinner for their families on class nights.

ChefMakers Cooking Academy, Manhattan Beach, California
http://chefmakers.com
Junior chefs from can take part in a variety of cooking classes at the ChefMakers Cooking Academy. Florida cooking, cooking on the grill, and Tex Mex cuisine are hits. Kids aged 5 to 8 tackle basic cooking skills in a fun atmosphere where they’re encouraged to touch, taste, and smell a broad variety of ingredients and not even realize they're learning important nutrition concepts and table etiquette. A five-to-one ratio of students to staff ensures that each child is fully supported on the culinary journey.

Krinsky Fitness, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
www.jkcp.com
Julian Krinsky's culinary team created Krinsky Fitness, where students enjoy culinary workshops with an emphasis on fresh, natural ingredients. Krinsky Fitness helps young adults discover the choices they make about food and activities that directly affect their health. The fun, fast-paced classes develop sophisticated taste buds, a critical appreciation of food, and the ability to create some mouth-watering dishes. Instructors work with students aged 13 to 17 on an individual basis.

Silo Cooking School Henderson Cultural Center at Hunt Hill Farm, New Milford, Connecticut
www.hunthillfarmtrust.org
In a picturesque barn nestled in the Litchfield Hills, the Silo Cooking School is a gourmet getaway devoted to developing the skills of budding chefs aged 5 and older. Guest instructors range from local chefs and product representatives to Jacques Pepin and even Martha Stewart. The Silo runs kid’s programs on subjects as diverse as international music/food camp and a teen intensive culinary camp, as well as American Indian themed cooking, gingerbread house building, fall pie workshops, Christmas cookie baking and more.

Piccolo Chef Culinary Academy for the Young Gourmet, Culver City, California
www.piccolochef.com
Piccolo Chef promotes and teaches kids aged 4 to 17 the art and culture of Italy and international gastronomy. The academy focuses on cooking as a life skill and teaches children not only how to cook but how to eat healthfully. It's endowed with a large parcel of land on which it cultivates vegetable and herb gardens and incorporates gardening into the curriculum in a farm-to-plate theme. Instructors teach skills such as math, kitchen confidence, chemistry and language, patience, safety, teamwork, and more.

— Jennifer Nelson