CT Guide To Kids Cooking Classes & Summer Camps
“MOM! MA! Mommmmmmm…
“What?!”
“I’m bored.”
Oh boy.
Have you heard this lovely little conversation often during the summer months? Kids young and old let that horrifying phrase fall from their lips at an astounding rate. Are you just cringing thinking about how you will derail these declarations for 10 weeks? Well, now you can consider yourself informed and prepared to battle the cries of blahs and beat the little buggers at their own game! We’ve got some tasty ideas so that you can wave goodbye to boredom, and say hello to a creative and fun summer (not to mention, delicious). Maybe your kids will even treat you to a meal or two along the way. Maybe you’ll get the last laugh this summer…
Here are 14 Kids Cooking Classes & Summer Camps.
The Fig Cooking School
42 Naugatuck Ave., Milford
www.figcookingschool.com
Held at their state-of-the-art teaching kitchen in Walnut Beach, Milford, The Fig Cooking School's "Summer Breeze" kids' cooking workshop, for ages 9-17, will feature recipes anchored in the wealth of colorful, fresh, local food available during the summer. Fig's interactive teaching will strengthen kids' culinary foundations as they sample local ingredients, learn about flavor profiles, and build strong technique. Fig is also located only 1 block from Walnut Beach, where (weather permitting) kids will spend time every day, playing games, and exploring the area. Kids will come away with new friendships, happy tummies, and the skills to explore the culinary possibilities of the world around them.
The Pink Rhubarb
Programs are held at Fodor Farms, 328 Flax Hill Rd.,Norwalk
www.thepinkrhubarb.com
The Pink Rhubarb develops and supports cooking, gardening and craft skills. Their teaching resources include a wide variety of staff, complemented by local artists and makers, who offer classes, camps and workshops for all ages! Topics range from container gardening and cooking and nutrition, to sustainable living and simple crafts. Through these activities, they skillfully celebrate the people, resources, and ideas that grow food, make food, and teach the art of using our hands. Refreshing, right? Pink Rhubarb looks forward to sharing ideas and inspirations that willmake “garden to plate” a reality for participants in our programs. Join them for a class, attend one of our events-in the garden or at the table-or simply make one of our recipes or craft projects. You’ll be happy you (or your child) did!
Unquowa School
981 Stratfield Rd.,Fairfield
www.unquowa.org
Have you ever spent an early morning walking between rows of growing vegetables and smelling the fragrance of fresh greens mingling with the soil they are grown in? Have you ever made your own paint from the stamens of flowers or cooked and eaten food that you have just harvested? Well, sign up for the Unquowa’s Summer Farm Camp, and these will be just a few of the ways in which your kids will learn to understand the relationship between the foods they eat and where it comes from. In addition to the art, cooking and environmental science classes taught on campus, campers will travel to organic farms and local community gardens. They will harvest local produce and experience first hand what it is like to run and work on an organic farm. Much of the food will be brought back to Unquowa for campers to use in preparing their lunches with chefs’ help. Each afternoon, they will prepare a locally sourced lunch followed by an art class, with a focus on art in nature and a science class centered round the theme of sustainability and the environment. Programs are offered for those entering Pre-K through 7th grade.
Ambler Farm
Wilton
Students from preschool age through grade 7 will get a great taste of farm life with
the Adventures on the Farm Summer Program (cue animal sounds). Learning about everything from plants to animals and crops, the farm is a never-ending adventure of activities, education, and fun. Each week of the adventure includes woodworking, hayrides, planting, visiting animals, harvesting, cooking, and more! Students are divided by grade levels for appropriate activities, which will change each week for variety.
Aux Delices
23 Acosta St.,Stamford
Kids ages 8-14 can become “CITs” at the Aux Delices “Cooks in Training” camp. Each day of the week-long sessions has a different theme to keep things fresh and interesting…Chocolate & Vanilla, Salt & Pepper, Milk & Honey, Sweet & Sour, Cheese & Crackers. We think these pairings will be as perfect as your child + summer cooking fun! Check out their website to see which recipe menus to choose for your camp experience.
Chef’s Emporium
449 Boston Post Rd.,Orange
Food Trucking, Food Network Favorites, Little Italy, and Baking Wars…just a few of the weekly class offerings for teens and kids this summer. Each day will feature a different menu, ingredients, skills and techniques, so there’s lots to learn and experience! Kids’ camps are for ages 5-11 and Teen camps are for those 12 years and older. Check Facebook for details on classes.
Chocolate Works
25 Old Kings Hwy N, Darien
Have an hour when the kids are just hanging around? Is there a rainy day in the forecast? Book a little time at Chocolate Works and play Willy Wonka for a spell! Create goodies with their chocolate fountain, be “like Lucy” and work the conveyor belt, craft a chocolate pizza or fashion some “sweet” sushi or even create artistic molded chocolates. Spark some creativity in a summery, sweet way.
Foodology Cooking School and Bakery Cafe
991 S. Main St., Plantsville
Enjoy a summer of culinary eureka moments! Kids in grades 2-10 can make new discoveries and create like mad scientists whose lab…is a kitchen! Sign up now for Summer Cooking Intensives such as Cake Baking and Decorating, Test Kitchen, Passport Food (span the globe with flavors from different countries), Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques, Catering Club, and Culinary Road Trip (explore flavors of the U.S.).
Manchester College: Excursions in Learning Youth
Programs
Great Path, Manchester
Geared towards students in Grades 5-8, the world of food safety, food prep, and culinary arts will be explored in state-of-the-art culinary labs on campus. These week-long, full-day programs will teach kids in small groups (as well as independently), all in a hands-on manner. Let the learning begin! Knife skills, sanitation, menu development, hospitality, plating, garnishing…the whole kit-and-caboodle.The week concludes with the young chefs treating their families to a grand buffet on Friday. See, you (Mom and Dad), you get to have fun too! Check out their summer catalog for program details.
The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm
44 Upland Rd., New Milford
www.hunthillfarm.org
The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, in the beautiful Litchfield Hills, has been a notable learning center for more than 45 years. The cooking school, which has played host to the likes of Jacques Pepin and Martha Stewart, is situated in a circa-1800 horse barn with beautiful cooking and learning spaces. A variety of kids and teen classes are offered this year, such as the 5 Day Baking Series, Cook from Farm and Garden, Kids Travel America, Kids Chopped!, and Teens Around the World. Check their website for program details.
Stew Leonard’s
3475 Berlin Turnpike, Newington
www.stewleonards.com
“Join the fun!” says Stew! At their Newington locations classes will be offered for toddlers (age 2-5) and kids (age 6-12): learn how to make Delicious Donuts such as old fashioned glazed, confetti, and Oreo or create concoctions based on Girl Scout Cookies like a Thin Mint Milkshake and Samoa Truffles. Someone please pass the milk! Visit the store's website for the complete schedule and to register.
Sur la Table
110 Albany Turnpike, Canton
www.surlatable.com
So much fun in the kitchen! Sur la Table will be offering 5-Day Summer Cooking Series for kids and teens: American Road Trip, Bakeshop, Global Passport where they will learn to make item such as bagels, Brownie S’mores Bars, homemade pasta, Cubanos with Mojo Marinated Pork, Scallion Pancakes…ah, the list goes on and on! Whatever your kids’ palate is like, there’s a class that will work for it!
Tiny Chefs
Various locations
www.tinychefs.com
With a passion for teaching kids about nutrition, cooking and exploring food, Tiny Chefs holds cooking classes at area schools, camps, and community centers. Let your kids try their hands at a Chopped Camp, Cupcake Wars, Baking Bootcamp, Restaurant Creation, Cooking up Science and a Kids’ Cook Off! The summer will be full of learning…about cooking (while having fun doing it).
Westport Continuing Education
70 North Ave, Westport
www.westportsummerschool.com
There is much crazy culinary fun at the Crazy Delicious Cooking Camp for students entering 3rd to 5th grades which are held at Greens Farms Elementary School! For the older set entering 6-9th grades, there are classes centering on American Regional, Asian, and European cuisines which will be held at Staples High School. Utilizing fresh and local ingredients, kids are sure to have fun learning and creating, all the while making their summer days all kinds of tasty. Sign up online at their website.
Nouveau Nutrition
Wilton Congregational Church, 70 Ridgefield Rd, Wilton CT
203.442.6027 www.nn4kids.com | kira@nouveaunutrition.com
Calling all young chefs!!! Join us on an adventure to expand your child's palate by using a "learn by doing" way of teaching. With chef hats in tow, your young chef will be making several fun and healthy recipes per day while learning valuable kitchen skills. This camp will get your child really excited about putting together healthy and delectable dishes from start to finish. During the camp, all young chefs will get to eat their food creations. Each young chef will receive a gift bag, chef hat, young chef t-shirt, and recipes.
Chopped Junior’s chef Aron Gruen will be joining us July 9th and 10th and the weeks of July 23rd and August 20th!
