Kids Virtual Cooking Class Information

By Linda Miller

September 13th, 2021

Now, with the new virtual cooking classes offered by RemoteLearning.school, your children can learn how to channel their inner-chef! With online instruction from our skilled teachers, young chefs get to chop, mix and roll their way to a different delicious dish in each class - with enough to share with the fam!

Children will learn valuable culinary skills and new recipes, as well as enjoy a fun hands-on activity. They will be inspired to expand their taste buds to discover that "real food" can be really good. Kids will follow along with chefs as they practice culinary skills and learn new cooking techniques and recipes.

Cooking also builds self-confidence and independence, and teaches them art, math, and science along the way.

Each class, kids will learn simple recipes that they can prepare on their own with little to no adult supervision. All recipes are no cook preparations and focus on building flavor, assembling ingredients and being creative! Cooking promotes independence and confidence in all ages.

All recipes will be easy to make, healthy, and nutritious, so that kids can be encouraged to make it for themselves whenever they are hungry, and even cook for their parents, grandparents, and siblings! Your child will learn the essential cooking skills needed so that they can cook at home for the family.

All classes will also include downloadable recipe books with more great easy-to-make recipes for kids!

For cutting and chopping things, for the smaller chefs, we recommend kid safe knives which allow kids to cut food safely. They look similar to the ones pictured below and can be purchased for cheap in many general stores or online at Amazon - just search google for "kid safe knives." Depending on kid's age and motor skills, parents should assist.

Adult supervision is up to the discretion of each family. We keep classes paced for youth cooking with no or minimal adult help. This will depend a lot on the student's age and motor skills.

Food Safety Basics

Before taking the first cooking class, go over some ground rules with kids first:

• Hands should be washed in warm and soapy water before and after handling food.
• Long hair should be pulled back, off the shoulders
• Counter tops and surfaces should be kept clean
• Children should wait until food is cooked before tasting and should not lick their fingers or put hands in their mouths especially when dealing with raw ingredients such as cookie dough or raw meat/fish/poultry.
• Avoid double-dipping or putting spoons back into food after using them for tasting.
• Remember, young cooks need supervision.
• Raw meat/poultry/seafood should be kept separate from ready-to-eat and cooked foods.
• Refrigerate foods promptly if not eating them after preparing.

4-5 year old kids

Young kids just love helping out, but need very close adult supervision since their motor skills are still developing. Teach these children the importance of washing produce and using clean appliances and utensils.

Appropriate Tasks:

• Wash hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds. Make it a game by singing the "Happy Birthday" song together twice as you wash your hands.
• Wash fruits and veggies
• Wipe tabletops
• Mix easy-to-mix ingredients
• Brush (or "paint") cooking oil with a clean pastry brush on bread, asparagus or other foods
• Cut cookie dough with fun shaped cookie cutters (do not eat raw dough!)

6-8 year old kids

Many kids at this age have developed fine motor skills by now, so they can handle some more work, but they still need food safety reminders.

Appropriate Tasks:

• Break eggs into a bowl and remember to wash hands afterwards.
• Scoop out avocados after sliced in half by an adult.
• De-seed tomatoes and cooled, roasted peppers with a spoon.
• Snapping green beans
• Loading the dishwasher
• Cut fruit and veggies with kid-safe knives.

9-10 year old kids

There is a wide range of skills in this age group, so tailor your tasks to each individual's maturity level. Be sure to discuss the importance of wiping down all surfaces and refrigerating perishables, such as eggs and milk, right away.

Appropriate Tasks:

• Use can opener to open cans
• Use peeler to peel raw potatoes, mangoes, ginger, and other washed fruits and veggies.
• Put leftovers in shallow containers and refrigerate within two hours (one hour if it’s warmer than ninety degrees).
• Shuck corn and rinse before cooking.
• Pound chicken on a cutting board. Note: Always use a separate cutting board for ready-to-eat and raw foods, and be sure to wash hands with warm, soapy water after handling raw meats and chicken.
• Beating eggs
• Using a meat thermometer to check temperature of cooked meat - like a science experiment!
• Juice lemons and oranges

11-13+ year old kids

For the most part, older children can work independently in the kitchen, but should still have some adult supervision. Before letting these kids do grown-up tasks on their own, assess whether they can follow basic kitchen rules such as adjusting pan handles over counters to avoid bumping into them, unplugging electrical appliances, using knives and safely using the oven or microwave.

Appropriate Tasks (with adult supervision):

• Boil pasta.
• Use microwave to microwave different foods
• Follow recipe instructions accurately including correctly measuring ingredients
• Use oven to bake foods
• Simmer ingredients on the stove
• Slice and chop veggies

All online kids cooking classes are included for free with the RemoteLearning.school membership. While our cooking classes help kids gain all the culinary skills so that they can cook with minimum adult supervision, we encourage parents and kids to cook together sometimes - cooking together with your kids can be a fun way to teach them valuable skills, promote good nutrition and make long-lasting memories in the process!