Cooking Academy Open for Summer & Fall Registration!
CREATING CONFIDENCE & INDEPENDENCE IN THE KITCHEN
Through demonstration and personalized instruction, our culinary staff works with young chefs to learn cooking skills, be creative, and gain confidence in the kitchen while preparing a variety of delicious and nutritious meals and snacks.
Our cooking classes emphasize kitchen safety, clean workspaces, and the nutritional value of the food that we eat.
Every class we will create new and exciting dishes, with recipes your friends will be asking you for! From the discipline that cooking requires to the delight it creates, KidSpirit's Cooking Academy will guide chefs along a culinary journey to remember!

Cooking Academy Summer Camps
In our Top Chef: Beaver Edition course, Young Chefs in grades 3-8 will experience a hands-on culinary journey learning essential cooking skills, exploring creativity, and gaining confidence in the kitchen. With personalized instruction and demonstrations, participants will prepare various delicious and nutritious meals and snacks while embracing their inner chef.
Time: 8:30 AM - 1 PM
Price: $579 ($11.70/hr)
Get your green thumb ready! Young Chefs will cook herb-centered recipes while growing their very own herb garden to learn about the farm-to-chef relationship and what it means to eat seasonally. Young Chefs will also practice cooking safety, cooking strategies, science, math, and community building. We intentionally choose our recipes to provide nutritious, creative, and colorful meals. We learn and accommodate all different dietary needs. The goal of this session is for Young Chefs to understand how our food grows while becoming well versed in the knowledge, abilities, and confidence to cook!
Time: 8:30 AM - 1 PM
Price: $579 ($10.72/hr)
Food is fuel! Young Chefs will train for a 5k while learning what foods will help us recover and keep moving. The themes we will cover in this session include digestion and microbes, energy, vitamins and minerals, balance, hydration, the timing of food, and food as medicine. In addition to these themes, chefs will learn about other cultures, science, math, community building, and other cooking-related topics.
Time: 8:30 AM - 1 PM
Price: $579 ($10.72/hr)
Einstein who? Young Chefs will learn about science in the kitchen. This session will be full of color changes, state changes, critical thinking, discoveries, and delicious food. We will dive into topics including, emulsification, acids and bases, microbes, etc. In addition, Young Chefs will learn about cooking safety, cooking strategies, science, math, and community building. We intentionally choose our recipes to provide nutritious, creative, and colorful meals. We learn and accommodate all different dietary needs. The goal of this session is to gain knowledge on the connection between science and the kitchen while developing the abilities and confidence to cook like a pro!
Time: 8:30 AM - 1 PM
Price: $579 ($10.72/hr)
Move over, Bobby Flay—these campers are learning to slice, dice, and sauté! In this class, our Young Chefs will gain confidence and become comfortable in the kitchen. Young Chefs will learn to prepare nutritious meals, snacks, sides, and desserts, encouraging a hands-on approach to cooking and a healthy lifestyle.
Time: 8:30 AM - 1 PM
Price: $579 ($10.72/hr)
Discounts:
Early Bird Registration:
Register and pay by April 30 and save $50 per session!
Prepare for Anything with Cooking Academy!
Cooking encourages children's thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. It also helps them develop skills in counting, measuring, following a sequence, following directions, and analyzing cause and effect. With diligence, patience, and supportive instruction from a growth mindset, developing culinary skills can develop a child's confidence and independence far outside of the kitchen!
Our Cooking Academy is for chefs in grades 3 to 8. During summer term, consider the grade you are about to enter. We deliver our classes at our kitchen on the OSU Corvallis campus, on the third floor of Milam Hall.
Whether your child is an independent chef or is still learning, they will develop their skills and prepare a wide variety of delicious meals, with recipes they can take home for the family! Of course, they will also get to eat the food they make each day in class.
Recipes
Want to make it at Home?
Check out our ever-growing catalog of kid-friendly recipes, and make them at home for the whole family to enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
KidSpirit Cooking Academy
Under construction...

Thank you to the Moore Family Center for use of their kitchen facility!
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