Cooking Classes For Kids & Those With Learning Difficulties

Why Cooking?

Cooking is a multi-sensory experience that engages children and adults in smelling, tasting, and feeling different textures.

Working in the kitchen is simply something children enjoy! Nevertheless, they do not even realize how much they are learning because of how much fun they are having.

Teaching kids to cook will help instill skills to last them a lifetime. Cooking is a great way to learn life skills and to acquire and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Social skills are a very important area tackled during cooking where children learn to work in a team and communicate for various purposes.

Further, cooking teaches children about planning and making choices. Cooking experience help children explore and practice their creativity and use their imagination where they can express themselves and take pride in their creations.

Cooking embarks us in a magical and fun experience developing our self- confidence, and a greater understanding of the world in a range of ways. Here are just some of the reasons you should teach your kids to be little master chefs!

Benefits of cooking at S-miles Center

• Improves Motor Skills

Kneading, rolling, mashing, cutting, squeezing and stirring are all tasks involved in cooking giving children the opportunity to exercise their motor skills.

• Life Skills

Independency is a crucial skill to be developed with age. During cooking, students are given ample occasions to develop skills needed in their daily lives.

• Responsibility

With sufficient supervision and age-appropriate activities, children at S-miles are given the chance to feel like grown-ups. It is surprising at many instances how responsible kids can be when we trust them and give them suitable and attainable tasks.

• Science Information and Skills

How does the cake rise? What is the difference between soluble and insoluble solutions? What is a mixture? How do eggs turn from a clear thick liquid into a glossy white creamy puff? All these questions and much more are addressed in our cooking sessions.

• Measurement and volume

Cups, jugs, scales, measuring spoons, etc. are used to help children explore the concepts of measurement and volume. Understanding measurement and volume is made simple when baking.

• Language Skills

During our cooking class students expand their English vocabulary repertoire by learning all the utensils used in the kitchen, names of fruits and vegetables, etc. Reading recipes or ingredients from packets in the pantry can help children with their spelling and reading. It also helps when they need to recognize words and connect the word "butter" in a recipe with the word "butter" on a pack.

• Health and Nutrition

Healthy recipes are prepared and cooked by S-miles young chefs. Kids are exposed to the health benefits of different foods. They are encouraged to adopt a healthy life by cooking healthy food that are both beneficial and tasty. It is striking how a kid that usually refuses to taste new foods would readily try it if he/she cooks it. Cooking helps children understand why we eat the foods we do, what foods go well together, and what we need to include for a balanced meal.

• Cultural studies

Children can learn more about the world through cooking. S-miles cooking program covers recipes from different cultures. Why people from different cultures eat the way they do? Why so many hot countries enjoy spicy meals? What meats are popular in certain nations and how does the way they eat differ from ours? Diverse topics are addressed to expand our learners social and cultural knowledge.

• Increases self-esteem

Cooking is a great way to boost the child's self-esteem as the results are quick and rewarding. Sense of achievement help children improves their self-esteem especially when tasks are designed to suit their individual abilities. At S-miles children are encouraged to take risks and try tasks on their own. Finally, children take the food they prepared home to proudly share with their family and friends their accomplishments.

How does cooking at S-miles center engage children in a SENSORY EXPERIENCE:

• Spices are used to wake up the system and others to relax it. Children are given the opportunity to smell spices or taste and describe how they feel when they do.

• Touch: Children are encouraged to touch ingredients with their hands and feel their different textures.

• Taste: Children are asked to close their eyes and taste a particular food. They need to describe the texture and taste of a crunchy cucumber or a mushy banana. Further, foods with strong tastes are used to heighten the senses such as sour or sweet items.

• Working the muscles: Grating cheese, rolling out dough, mashing potatoes, mashing bananas, kneading dough, etc. Touching and manipulating ingredients engages the child in a sensory experience and helps the child develop his/her motor skills.

• Temperatures: Cold, hot, warm, freezing ingredients are used with guidance to evolve the child's sensory experience while cooking.

• Complexity: making foods with different layers, or adding cool whip to a pie, or chocolate chips to a cake enhances the child's sensory experience.

• Clean up and water time: S-miles cooking session always ends up with a fun experience with water. Children need to clean the tables feeling the wet sponges, wash the dishes, and are given time to play with soap and water.

Finally, one of the most important objectives that S-miles center emphasizes is the development of independent life skills vital for our children's well-being, growth and functioning in life. Our program also provides a platform for preparatory pre-vocational practices.

Kindly note that additional classes might be open in different week days depending on request.

For more info please don't hesitate to contact us on +961 71 74 74 54

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Special Miles Team