Kitchen Little, the cooking school in the spacious UES Gymtime Rhythm and Glues facility, has just been renovated this past summer. When we arrived for a taste of its new classes one afternoon, a cheery cluster of pink balloons lured my two-year-old daughter right in. Her four-year-old brother, on the other hand, was excited at the prospect of baking in the very modern-looking kitchen.
Alas, Brandon was instructed to go with the other 3-6 year-old’s to the activity room, while Julia and her fellow two-year-old’s were invited directly into the kitchen for a sample cooking lesson. Not that my son was all that disappointed to wait in the end. He got to decorate a cupcake–cleverly placed on an art palette with a popsicle stick for “painting” the frosting on–enjoy a scoop of pudding with some toppings of his choice, and fill a decorative jar with dried fruit.
Clutching the goodies he’d created, Brandon bounded across the hall to the kitchen, waiting to see what delicious treats his sister had been making. But when the doors finally opened, out came Julia with a container of…SALAD! I wish I could describe her proud expression, but even better was the the look of consternation on Brandon’s face.
Not to worry–he soon found that he’ll also be making cookies, like Julia did. (All children cook the same things at Kitchen Little, though the two-year-olds are accompanied by their caregivers along and get a little more help from the instructors.) I filed into the spotless kitchen with Brandon’s group, appreciating the shiny new stainless steel appliances and gleaming white shelves, dotted with containers upon containers of ingredients. The focus naturally fell on two kid-sized tables, where plenty of adult-sized stools were available for accompanying caregivers to observe or help.
At Kitchen Little, there’s always a secret (healthy) ingredient of the day–the program really focuses on healthy and colorful ingredients, forgoing gluten whenever possible and completely staying away from sugar. But seriously, what’s a cookie without something sweet? So the kids got to add raisins and a few chocolate chips.
After the cookies were whisked away to the oven, it was time to make salads. Starting with a quinoa base, the little chefs added beans, carrots, corn, and cilantro for color and flavor, and a pinch of salt to top it off. Each kid chose how much of the individual ingredients to put in before closing the cover and shaking it up with a little song and dance. On the way out, parents and caregivers received a customary printout with a menu, tips and fun facts about that week’s secret ingredient so it would be less of a secret.
Classes run for 16 weeks, alongside individual workshops for ages 2 to tween. But watching the kids enjoy themselves is not all the program offers to parents. There are also Moms in the Kitchen Classes (Dads are welcome too!), with themes like After-School Snacks and Beyond Brown Rice. But judging by the single raisin and very little bit of cookie my son shared with me, I’m thinking Dessert Re-Do might be the way to go.
To learn more about Kitchen Little’s classes, visit gymtime.net or call 212.861.7732
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Elisabeth Frankel Reed blogs regularly at www.newyorkfamily.com. She was born and raised in New York and loves exploring the city with her husband and two children, Brandon and Julia.
