Chef It Up
Crème de la Crème’s cooking program is a student favorite. It’s a fun, safe way to expose young children to valuable kitchen skills while helping them build good nutritional habits. During cooking classes, children are exposed to basic food preparation skills, kitchen safety rules, budgeting, grocery shopping, and problem-solving. While they pour, chop, knead, and stir, they’re improving fine motor skills, practicing basic math concepts, and growing their vocabularies.
Beyond its educational value, cooking is an important nutritional tool. By giving children a chance to explore different fruits, vegetables, grains, and liquids, our cooking classes provide them with positive food-related experiences. This can often sway children to make healthier food choices and help with picky eating behaviors.
We know that trying new foods is sometimes overwhelming to young children, so we make sure they have multiple opportunities to venture beyond their sense of taste during cooking class. For example, kneading dough involves the sense of touch and helps children become comfortable with different textures. Experimenting with spices gives them a chance to explore different food smells without feeling pressured to eat. This relieves some of the anxiety associated with tasting new foods, making them more likely to try them.