OUR CURRICULUM

we live to create a more educated, able, and healthy society

We offer sessions Monday through Sunday, where your child will experience a 3-hour class once a week for 4 consecutive weeks during the school year or 5 consecutive days during Summer, Winter & Spring breaks. They will learn how to make healthy, delicious, and seasonal meals from scratch to consumption—all while experimenting with math and science concepts, working on their reading skills, and polishing up their table manners by sharing meals around our community table (made with 33,436 recycled chopsticks).

We believe that by empowering children with practical life skills and knowledge in a positive and joyful environment, we will affect positive lifestyle changes that result in a healthier world.

Click on the age groups below about the curriculum best suited to your child’s age.

empowerment. joy. mindfulness. learning. delight. health.

WHY MONTESSORI?

Montessori education values the development of the whole child- physical, social, emotional, and cognitive.

Montessori is not only a pedagogy, it is a movement.  It is a way to provide an environment in which children can become who they are meant to be.  They are given tools and experiences that allow development at their speed, with their interests being encouraged, while nurturing specific needs during their sensitive periods.

At Little Kitchen Academy, children are exposed to math while using units of measure, or producing yield when chopping 1 red pepper into 15 pieces.  They work with basic science experiments when watching what happens to matter when heat is added, or observing the change in flour and water when yeast starts to develop.  Reading recipes together strengthens their (pre)reading skills. Caring for plants, understanding the nutrients they contain, and what they do to your body is the best way to understand the beginnings of biology.  At LKA our students learn the basic (and often challenging) fundamentals of primary education in the kitchen. They learn basic life skills. And best of all, they have lots of fun.

it is our honour and privilege to provide the space

OUR INSPIRATION

One of my favourite things to do when our children have friends over is to cook or bake together.  I find willing helpers at all ages. They love to get involved and offer suggestions or opinions. I am always surprised at the varying degrees of confidence in the kitchen.  The only constant is the enthusiasm.

While making recipes we expose children to basic fundamentals of math.  They learn patterns, yields, time management, fractions. They work with science. Adding or subtracting heat from matter, watching yeast bloom, adding different elements to form reactions. They strengthen their reading. Going through a recipe together. Adding notes along the way. Learning descriptive words.

we strive to provide
ingredients that are

FOOD PHILOSOPHY

Organic — Food produced without using man-made inhibitors or enhancers. non-GMO food that has not been modified or changed using scientific method.

Seasonal — Food that is available to the consumer as soon as it is harvested. At Little Kitchen Academy we aim for our students to know the season by what is cooking in the kitchen. Mother Nature provides from the ground what our bodies are needing at specific times of the year. Our recipes will support the phrase ‘what grows together, goes together’.

Local — Using locally grown products not only supports our surrounding communities but leaves less of a carbon footprint. Once produce is harvested it begins to lose nutrients, and the longer it takes to get to you the more possibilities of contamination or improper food handling materialize..

all of our recipes are meat and poultry free

Handling raw meat and poultry adds more caution and care in the kitchen, and with a large group of excited students we would hate to have accidental mishandling lead to unsanitary practice. When sitting at the community table, enjoying our food, we will ask leading questions like ‘what else would be good in this meal?’ ‘how could we change this to suit our tastes better?’ This kind of conversation allows us to share ways to add meat to their meal when cooking at home.

The only allergen not welcome in Little Kitchen Academy is nuts. We are a NUT FREE kitchen. While we will take every precaution possible to support all allergies, nut allergies can be air borne and simply unsafe. Again, while eating our food at the community table we are able to suggest adding toasted nuts to different recipes at home, if the taste buds are willing. We understand that there are more diet needs/choices/preferences/trends than there are types of apples (and there are over 7500 varieties of apples)! It is a pleasure and an honour to work with our students to give them the confidence and the skills to make their own decisions on what is best for their bodies.

Organic — Food produced without using man-made inhibitors or enhancers. non-GMO food that has not been modified or changed using scientific method.

Seasonal — Food that is available to the consumer as soon as it is harvested. At Little Kitchen Academy we aim for our students to know the season by what is cooking in the kitchen. Mother Nature provides from the ground what our bodies are needing at specific times of the year. Our recipes will support the phrase ‘what grows together, goes together’.

Local — Using locally grown products not only supports our surrounding communities but leaves less of a carbon footprint. Once produce is harvested it begins to lose nutrients, and the longer it takes to get to you the more possibilities of contamination or improper food handling materialize..