Yes! The beauty of this course is that it was totally designed to be family-friendly. I taught six children, two at each level, at the same time for almost every lesson. There are special “teaching multiple children” sections in the course materials to give you ideas on the order in which to present skills so that one age level can be practicing while you are working with another age level.

For almost every class, you’ll be able to juggle 2 or 3 age levels at the same time. And what they make usually ends up coming together to make one meal or snack that everyone can enjoy! See the Curriculum Map for the intricate module integrations to see what your kids might do!

The best way to determine whether a child is Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced is to peruse the Curriculum Map that lists the skills taught at each level.

Some of the Beginner Level skills are appropriate for very young children, like ages 2-6 (i.e. careful pouring, building a colorful salad, spreading butter). Some of them are important foundations for any age, like peeling correctly, cross-hatch dicing, and measuring.

The Intermediate Level lays very important foundations such as sharp knife safety and stovetop safety. If your child has never worked with a sharp knife or at the stove, then they are definitely at Intermediate or Beginner, no matter their age. If you’re unsure about their ability in those areas, you can always watch part of the videos from Intermediate class 2 and 5 and see how your kids fare.

You can also pick and choose what classes to utilize and only teach a few from a level before moving on as well. I know of some young teens whose parents started them at the Beginner Level just for peeling and a couple of the other skills taught there. A teen could blow through those in combination with the Intermediate Level in a few hours. Many of our members with multiple children in the family have simply chosen to start everyone at the Beginner Level and move through all 24 lessons together.

The bottom line is that your child’s experience, personality, and your tolerance for new things and risks will direct where you begin, and our course will take them from there! Consider it a prerequisite for Intermediate that the child knows how to peel vegetables, cut with a dull knife, and measure accurately. To move to Advanced, a child must have some experience with sharp knives and the stove, as well as cracking eggs and reading a recipe on their own. Lots of foundational skills at the Intermediate Level!

Most families choose the All-Access VIP, for many reasons. VIP is probably right for you if:

• You have more than one child.
• Your child is an Intermediate or Advanced age but doesn’t have much experience in the kitchen (or could use some reminders).
• Your child is a Beginner who might want to learn more.
• You’d like your child to be able to complete lessons as they grow older. A 5-year-old could do the Beginner lessons this year, part of the Intermediate Level next year, finish that level the next and then move into the Advanced Level. As a VIP, you’ll never lose access to the course as long as it is online and can download the videos to keep permanently.

Yes! We love it when grandparents or friends give our course as a gift, and many have.

The easiest way to give the eCourse as a gift is to use the gift options provided during checkout.

Alternatively, if you already bought the course for someone else and you skipped using the gift option, here’s how to give:

• When you are asked to register for the course, don’t do it. Just forward the email from Katie Kimball with the subject “Claim Your Order so You Can Get in! [eCourse]” to the family who will be using the course.
• That person can then set a username and password, and they should immediately change their email in the system so that if they ever forget their password, they get the reset email and not you.
• Our lesson reminder emails come from a different system, unfortunately, so if the family wants to receive those, someone needs to email [email protected] to change the email on that side of the account.

If you want a gift certificate that you can print and wrap, shoot an email to [email protected] and we’ll be happy to send you one!

To teach one child all 3 levels, the 32 videos break down to just under $5 per lesson for VIP access that never expires (and there are over a dozen additional adult videos if you want them). Unlimited access will allow you to come back to new lessons as your child matures.

The cost gets even lower if you have more kids! For a family with three kids who are all going to do every level, our $149.95 one-time fee VIP membership comes out to only around $1.50 per lesson! We’ve also added over $300 in bonuses to that level at no extra charge. A single level (Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced) is $49.95 for 12 months of access.

Compare this to the nationwide average of around $50 per lesson for in-person cooking classes where you drop your child off and hope for the best. Often, parents find it difficult to coach their children in the kitchen after a cooking class taught by someone else, because the teacher didn’t communicate the expectations and new skills effectively to the parents so the learning can continue at home (or because a recipe was learned by rote, not foundational skills).

With the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse, you get the benefit of someone else teaching the skills, but you get to be right there connecting with your child and will be prepared to guide the practice as it happens in your own kitchen with familiar tools. We also back our classes with a 30-day happiness guarantee in case it’s not a perfect fit for your family.

Yes! We’re already on the approved vendors list for many schools. If you’d like to join using charter school funds, you can find more information here.

Maybe. The Kids Cook Real Food eCourse is a multimedia online course designed to help adults teach kids to cook (it doesn’t have to just be parents). Although older children could watch the videos on their own before working in the kitchen, it’s not intended to be fully self-study. An adult should always be involved once children are using knives, hot stoves and more.

If your kids have experience in the kitchen, however, and you’re comfortable with them working while you’re simply nearby working on something of your own, I know there are members who have done this successfully with older kids.

Absolutely. A 2-year-old might not be strong or coordinated enough to complete all 8 lessons at the Beginner Level but should be able to do quite a bit with an adult’s help and still learn valuable skills. By age 3, then 4, the same child could do the same lessons and get something new out of them!

You bet! We have had a number of teens take the course so far, and nearly everyone had positive things to say. Because the course is made for children of such a wide age range, the tone of voice is a bit more for younger children, but the skills at the Advanced Level are exactly what a teenager should be learning (if they haven’t had a ton of kitchen experience before). As long as your teenager doesn’t mind hearing me talk to littler kids during the All-Kid videos sometimes, I think it’s a good fit.

Yes. In the terms and conditions it says it’s ok to teach any number of children. You may copy the memory tools for them but not the entire recipe eBook or lesson plans, and you can’t share the videos except for viewing them. This is awesome for inviting neighbors or cousins over to your house and also applies to homeschool co-ops where many families get together.

The only thing members don’t have permission for is teaching others for-profit. That’s a separate For-Profit License.

If you’re part of a homeschool co-op or learning pod, you might be interested in our group discount on a three-month membership.

Oh, my friend. Delicious ones. And even more delicious because your children are making them.

There are simple recipes like “potato hash” and “omelets” and more complicated things like homemade tortillas and meatless chickpea wraps (above). You can read all the recipe titles in the Curriculum Map.

The most important part though? They’re all 100% real food, from scratch, no processed stuff. We teach kids to cook with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, eggs, cheese, meat (in one class) – the basics.

The Recipe eBook is not just another “kiddie cookbook.” It’s packed with real recipes for the whole family to enjoy, as demonstrated in the video lessons of the eCourse.

The eCourse is very allergy-friendly and provides many substitutions for special diets! The beauty of this course is that the focus is on the skills, not the recipes. If someone in your family can’t or won’t eat an ingredient we use in the demonstrated recipe, it’s easy to swap it out for another recipe and still practice the same cooking skill. There is a section in every lesson plan with ideas for allergies and substitutions of many kinds.

For example, we make ranch and Italian – the sour cream base for the ranch wouldn’t work for a dairy allergy or vegan, but kids could still make Italian, so the skill still gets appropriate practice. Our pancake and muffin recipes use eggs, but an egg-sensitive family could easily practice the skills of flipping pancakes and making a recipe all by oneself with any favorite pancake or muffin recipe.

As long as the children won’t be traumatized by their experience not matching the videos exactly (we have a sensitive type here at the Kimball household, so I know how that can go), you should feel confident embarking on the course with any dietary restriction.

Here are some individual breakdowns so you can see how much you might have to adapt:

• Nuts: There are no nuts in the class recipes, and the one activity that uses peanut butter in a central way has many other options to practice the same skill.
• Gluten: All the recipes except two are already gluten-free, and both of those have GF alternative recipes, although that may shift the skill a little bit.
• Dairy: Many skills of the 30 already fit a dairy-free diet, and the few that don’t are fairly easy to adapt. Suggestions provided in the lesson plans.
• Grain-free/Paleo: One skill at each age level does not fit a Paleo diet: two that have to do with legumes and one about cooking rice. Adaptations are included in the notes to switch up the lesson completely. Other than that, one other skill at each level will need to be adapted to use a different recipe but the same/similar skill. (See the Curriculum Map above for a more in-depth look at all the lessons.)
• Eggs: Eggs are pretty central in about 2 out of the 24 lessons. There’s just no substitute for eggs when the skill you’re teaching is “cracking eggs” or “cooking scrambled eggs.” I still think the course would be worthwhile for kids with egg allergies – they’d only have to substitute 2 lessons max.
• Sugar: There is very little sweetener of any kind in the course, and you can use natural sweeteners like sucanat or honey or substitute your own recipes for muffins if you like.
• Vegan: All the skills in the Beginner Level apply fine to vegans, although 2 recipes would need adaptations. Two skills (eggs and ground meat) at the Intermediate Level would need replacements; suggestions provided in the materials. Two skills at the Advanced Level (cooking eggs and a white sauce) would also need replacements or adaptations (a dairy-free white sauce for example). I’d say that if there are 30 skills taught, only about 4 of them relate specifically to animal products.

If you have other allergies, feel free to email a question to [email protected] and I’ll get back to you ASAP. If you get the VIP level with Facebook support version, I’d be able to help you find suitable allergy-friendly recipes to fit your needs for each skill as you work through the course.

I assure you that safety is a top priority in the lessons and videos, and a lot of our initial time teaching knife skills and working at the stove is spent on safety. There’s no guarantee that accidents won’t happen, but walking carries some risk too, yet we all manage to do it and let our kids do it as well. 😉

I’ll let a happy member tell you in her own words about her experience with safety:

“My kids can safely work at the stove! THANK YOU! I have always been too afraid to go there and you gave me and my kiddos the right info we needed to do it safely.”

Not really. There’s a supply list with every single item you’ll need for all 27 lessons, and it’s barely over a page of large text and includes items like “butter knife” and “large mixing bowl.” Most homes will have 90% of what we use already, and we recommend resources to purchase if you don’t.

One necessary item for Intermediate and Advanced Level kids is a knife that fits your child’s hands. Any paring knife will do for the Intermediate Level, but the Advanced kids use a chef’s knife. You should have access to a sharp chef’s knife that’s no longer than 6 inches in length for best success with smaller hands (or something like a 4-inch Victorinox knife that can be used on many chef’s knife tasks). See our resources page for easy order links and ideas.

The course is completely at your own pace, any time you’d like to login. I will send emails once a week for about 10 weeks as if the course was live and weekly, just a way to help keep you accountable and remind you that you have this awesome course at your disposal. You can stop those and start them over if you’re not ready to begin right away.

I’ll also send reminders at key points of the year like school breaks to remind you in case you forgot you bought the class entirely!

Every Class includes :

5 Videos:

1. An introductory video for adults explaining the day’s skills, how to present them in kid-friendly language, and some possible challenges you’ll want to be ready for.
2. An All-Kid video for the kids that all levels can watch together. This is a skill that everyone can learn and sometimes integrates with the day’s lesson at age levels, sometimes does not.
3. One video at each age/skill level, ranging in time from 3-22 minutes. If you have single module access, you’ll just have one of these. Otherwise, you’ll be able to watch all three.

There are also 4 “Foundations 101” video lessons to establish basic skills before embarking on the course (or at least by Class 4), and if you’re a VIP member, there’s a bonus 4-video Hospitality Class too.

Single Level access includes the Adult Guide and All-Kid videos, plus the level you chose.

PDF printouts:

1. A recap of what’s in the Adult Guide videos for those who would rather skim + planning helps for the All-Kid lesson and tips for teaching multiple age groups at once.
2. An extensive lesson plan for each module level (usually 4-10 pages each). The day’s plan, supplies needed at a glance, extensions to practice the skill plus adaptations for allergies and more.
3. Printable memory tools to help the kids (and parents!) remember the important key phrases in each lesson. There are 1-4 “Flash Cards” for each lesson plus a “Daily Nugget” card with the factoid nutrition lesson for the day.
4. A 50-page recipe eBook in kid-friendly language and font size for all the recipes demonstrated in the videos and mentioned in the lesson plans. (VIP members also receive a second “Extension” recipe eBook with more recipes for kids to practice their cooking skills from class.)
5. See an example of a lesson PDF from the Beginner Level to get a feel for the layout.

Katie recorded a video recently that answers this question so well! It’s less than 7 minutes and it’ll help you get a feel for what it’s like to use the course with your kids.

Because I’m a perfectionist.

Truly, I am, and we also had an army of 40 reviewing families who ran the course through their real kitchens. We took that feedback and made massive improvements to what was already a comprehensive course. The videos were all filmed and edited professionally, and you’ll find the the PDF materials will answer all your FAQs before you ask them, even if you’re an FAQ person (which clearly you are, because here you are on the FAQ page).

If you don’t agree, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee (60 at Christmastime!) on all digital products for any reason, no questions asked. (Well, truthfully I might ask questions so that I can improve others’ experience and help you out, but you’ll still get a full refund no matter what your answers are.)

With kids at one level, an hour should be sufficient for most lessons, although some of the cooking ones will take at least an hour and a half (kid-time is slower than adult-time, remember that). If you’re teaching all 3 levels at once, it’s totally doable, but you’ll need to set aside at least 2 hours so kids can rotate through the kitchen and not feel rushed. One class per week or every other week is just right for many families.

Although there are technically 8 classes, many members split up some of them and teach part the first day and part the next, plus there are some bonus lessons, so it could take 10-12 weeks to fully complete.

For most people, looking over the lessons for about 15 minutes and making sure your grocery list is up to date will take care of it. Some folks really like to print, laminate, 3-ring punch, etc. That might a few hours up front getting everything prepared, and then just 5-10 minutes a week taking care of the details for each lesson.

In the member area, I have a 2-minute video explaining the 3 classes you can teach without any prep or food supplies needed, so if you want to jump in with both feet and plan later, you can do that too. 😉

VIP memberships are lifetime access (i.e. as long as the course is online, minimum of one year guaranteed in the terms and conditions – but I sure hope it’s for years and years and years, I just can’t guarantee that I’ll be around for your “lifetime” legally, you know?). VIP members will have the ability to download the videos after the refund period is over. PDFs are always available for download.

Memberships at the single or all-access level are for 12 months. A lifetime upgrade is available in the member area. Videos are not downloadable with a basic 12-month membership.

Yes! Once you’re a member, there will be ways to upgrade at any point. There’s no “open” or “closed” enrollment inside the member area.

You bet. Once you’re a member, you can login from any device, anywhere, to view the course materials, and if you download them, you are welcome to save them on any device you own.

Starting when you receive access to the course (immediately after purchase), you’ll have 30 days (increased to 60 days at Christmastime!) to try out the course in your kitchen. We are so confident that you’ll love it that we will refund your digital purchase price if you email your request to [email protected] within the refund period. Flash drives include a $10 service charge to return and of course the product itself must be mailed back. Physical products are non-refundable.

There is a member area for streaming the videos, so if you don’t have home Internet (or it’s not very good), you might have trouble watching them. If you get a VIP Membership you can download the videos after the 30-day refund period is over. I recommend downloading at the lowest quality so it doesn’t take up so much space on your computer. The PDFs are always downloadable, no matter your membership level.

Yes! We are offering flash drives for a small fee; watch for the opportunity to add yours at checkout. They are only available with VIP memberships, however, because the drive has all the videos (in HD) and PDFs from every level.

You can use the flash drive to watch the videos on Roku, AppleTV or FireTV as well as to access your course when you don’t have Internet. You may not share the drive with others; it’s still your membership.

We don’t offer DVDs at this time.

The Kids Cook Real Food eCourse was created by Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship, along with 3 of her 4 children (baby Gabe didn’t get to participate but enjoyed eating all the fruit we cut up). I am a trained elementary school teacher with experience in 3rd and 5th grade classrooms.

The most important part to your kids, however, is that there are real kids in the videos. In fact, many members report that their kids call our kids their friends and love watching them. The “cast” of the eCourse videos includes 3 Kimball kids and their dear friends:

• Paul K., age 10
• Quinn V., age 8
• Leah K., age 7
• Lili Z., age 7
• John K., age 4
• Jill Z., age 5

There’s nothing comparable to the positive peer pressure of seeing real kids doing the work of cooking, enjoying eating vegetables, and even making mistakes.

My team and I are here for you and answer emails within about 6 hours on weekdays. Shoot us a note at [email protected]