DIY Camp Week 1: Cooking Up Life Skills

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Every week in July, we'll bring the parents of Beijing their very own summer camp curriculum. We're keeping it truly simple, uncomplicated, and as inexpensive as possible so choose activities a la carte or follow the entire week's agenda – whatever helps!

This week, our theme is Life Skills: Cooking. I love talking about food and cooking with kids. It builds so many incredible skills such as math, science, nutrition, and financial planning. Here is a suggested event schedule but don’t overthink it and as always you can ask for help and support in our DIY Camp Group (scan the QR code at the bottom of this article to join if you haven't already).

Monday: Cooking Class

Start by getting inspired. Check out a kid-friendly cooking class at a place like Black Sesame Kitchen or The Hutong. If you would rather learn from the comfort of your own kitchen, there are literally thousands of free kid cooking videos on streaming platforms.

Tuesday: Nutrition and Meal-Planning

Cooking is a great way to teach kids about healthy eating and balanced nutrition. Talk about how a healthy plate has all the colors of the rainbow and make an old-school collage! Take all your old magazines and let the kids cut out pictures of food they think looks both yummy and healthy.

Now that they are inspired, have them plan a meal they would like to cook for the family. Look up recipes for the things they want to make.

Wednesday: Grocery List + Budget

Pull out those recipes from yesterday and take inventory of what you already have in the house, then make a grocery list.

Have your child plan a budget for the meal. What do they think it will cost?

Ask them to make sure they have the cooking tools they will need as well. If a recipe calls for an immersion blender but you don’t have one, help them come up with solutions. Is there room in the budget to buy one? Is there a similar recipe that doesn’t need that tool? Will a regular blender work?

Thursday: Grocery Shopping

Head to the store with your list and budget in hand and help them find their ingredients. This is a good time to talk about why some products are more expensive than others. Branding and marketing, fresh produce versus frozen or canned? What do they think is worth paying extra for and where is it better to save money?

Friday: Let's Cook!

Today they will cook a meal and serve it to their family or friends! As with any project, help them self-evaluate. What went well? What can they be proud of? Did they learn anything new? Would they do anything differently next time?

We would love to see what your child came up with. Join our WeChat group and share pictures or videos by scanning the QR code below.

Images: Pexels

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