Welcome Back To A New School Year: 1st Session, Eat the Rainbow
A new school year means fresh aprons, curious taste buds and a kitchen full of excited little chefs ready to learn. Our first after school club class at Little Chefs Kitchen is all about starting well: helping children feel welcome, confident and safe before they begin cooking together.
This first session will be a warm, friendly introduction to the year ahead. We will welcome back our returning little chefs and say a big hello to all our new cooking club members. There will be time to learn names, share favourite foods and settle into the routines that help our club feel calm, happy and fun.
Then comes one of our favourite first-session activities: Eat the Rainbow 🌈
The children will explore colourful fruit and vegetables, practise simple kitchen skills and enjoy a cheerful taste test together. Along the way, they will learn that food can be exciting, creative and full of colour, and that being brave enough to try something new is something worth celebrating.
We will begin by getting to know each other
The first few minutes of a cooking club matter. Before any chopping boards come out, the children need to feel comfortable in the space and with the people around them.
We will begin by introducing ourselves and getting to know the chefs we will be cooking alongside this year. For some children, this may be their first time joining an after school club. Others may be returning with confidence, ready to help new friends settle in.
We will keep this part of the session simple, gentle and fun. The children may be invited to share:
Their name
A favourite fruit or vegetable
A food they love to cook or eat
A food they might like to try one day
One thing they are excited about in cooking club
This helps everyone see that food tastes are personal. One child may love peppers, another may prefer strawberries, and someone else may feel unsure about trying anything green. That is all welcome in Little Chefs Kitchen.
Cooking club is not about forcing children to like every food. It is about giving them chances to explore, ask questions and build confidence at their own pace.
Getting to know each other also supports teamwork. Cookery is full of shared moments: passing ingredients, taking turns, listening to instructions, helping with equipment and sitting together to taste what has been made. Our first session gives children the chance to practise these social skills in a relaxed way.
We want every child to feel like they belong at the table.
Kitchen safety comes before the cooking
Before we begin our main activity, we will talk about how to stay safe in the kitchen. Safety is one of the most important lessons children learn in Little Chefs Kitchen, and it starts from the very first club class.
A kitchen can be an exciting place, but it is also a place where we need to move carefully, listen closely and look after one another. We will introduce safety rules in a child-friendly way, using clear examples and practical demonstrations.
The children will learn how to move safely around the kitchen. That means walking rather than running, keeping chairs tucked in where possible and giving other chefs enough space to work. We will talk about why busy hands, sharp tools and food preparation areas need calm movement.
We will also cover how to use equipment sensibly. Even simple tools need care. Children will be reminded to:
Carry equipment carefully
Keep chopping boards flat on the table
Use utensils for their proper purpose
Wait for instructions before picking up tools
Ask for help when they are unsure
These routines make the club safer, but they also help children feel more independent. When children know what to expect, they can join in with more confidence.
Learning the bridge technique
One of the key skills in our first session will be knife safety, including how to use the bridge technique.
The bridge technique helps children cut food more safely by keeping fingers out of the way. The child makes a bridge shape with one hand over the food, then cuts through the middle of the bridge with the knife held in the other hand. This can be practised with soft foods and child-appropriate knives under supervision.
We will take this slowly. Children will watch a demonstration, talk through what they notice and then practise with support. The focus will be on safe hand position, careful movement and patience.
Knife skills can feel grown-up and exciting for children, so we will remind them that good chefs are not fast chefs. Good chefs are careful chefs.
Our main activity will be Eat the Rainbow
Once we have introduced ourselves and covered our kitchen safety rules, we will begin our colourful main activity: Eat the Rainbow 🌈🍅🥕🥒🫑
This activity is a lovely way to start the year because it is bright, hands-on and open to different comfort levels. Children can look, smell, touch and taste a range of fruit and vegetables. They can notice colours, shapes, textures and flavours before deciding what they would like to add to their rainbow creation.
We will explore foods from across the colour wheel. The selection may include colourful ingredients such as:
Red tomatoes, strawberries or red pepper
Orange carrots, satsumas or orange pepper
Yellow sweetcorn, banana or yellow pepper
Green cucumber, grapes or sugar snap peas
Purple cabbage, blueberries or beetroot
The exact ingredients may vary, but the aim stays the same. Children will see that fruit and vegetables come in many colours and that every colour can bring something different to a plate.
We will talk about how colourful foods can make meals more appealing. A plate with reds, oranges, greens and purples often looks exciting before we even take a bite. Children are naturally drawn to colour, so this activity gives them a fun way to connect with fresh ingredients.
We will also talk in simple terms about how eating a variety of fruit and vegetables can help us enjoy a balanced diet. We will keep this age-appropriate and positive. The message is not about rules or pressure. It is about curiosity, choice and noticing how food helps us feel ready for busy days.
The children will be encouraged to use their senses:
Look at the colour and shape
Smell the food before tasting
Feel the texture with clean hands
Listen for crunches when biting
Taste a small amount if they feel ready
This sensory approach supports children who may feel nervous about unfamiliar foods. Sometimes the first step is not tasting. Sometimes it is smelling a pepper, touching a cucumber slice or watching a friend try something new. Those small steps count.
Children will practise real cooking club skills
Eat the Rainbow may look like a bright and playful activity, but it is also full of useful cooking skills. During the session, the children will practise cutting, spreading, assembling and tasting.
These are simple actions, but they form the foundation for future cooking club tasks. As the year goes on, the children will build on these skills again and again.
Safe cutting
Children will have the chance to cut selected fruit and vegetables using safe techniques. We will remind them to work slowly, keep their eyes on what they are doing and use the bridge technique where suitable.
Cutting teaches more than hand control. It also teaches focus, patience and respect for tools.
Spreading
Spreading is a brilliant skill for younger cooks. It helps children develop coordination and control. Depending on the activity, they may spread a base ingredient onto bread, wraps, crackers or another suitable food before adding their rainbow toppings.
Spreading also gives children choice. They can decide how much to use and where to place it.
Assembling
Assembling is where creativity shines. Children will arrange their colourful ingredients to make their own rainbow creations. Some may create neat stripes. Others may make faces, patterns or colourful stacks.
There is no single right answer. That is part of the joy.
Tasting new foods
Tasting will be encouraged, not forced. We will celebrate children who have a go, whether that means tasting a tiny bite, trying a new colour or simply being open to exploring a food they have not had before.
Trying new foods can take courage. At Little Chefs Kitchen, we call that being a brave little chef.
We will sit together for a colourful taste test
Once the rainbow creations are ready, we will sit together and enjoy a colourful taste test. This is one of the most special parts of the session because it brings everyone back together after the busy hands-on activity.
The taste test gives children time to slow down and notice what they have made. Sitting together also helps the club feel like a team. Food is social, and sharing a table gives children the chance to listen, talk and learn from one another.
During the taste test, children will be invited to share their thoughts. We might ask questions such as:
Which colour did you choose first?
What food had the biggest crunch?
Did anything smell different from how it tasted?
What was your favourite part of your rainbow?
Did you try anything new today?
This kind of reflection helps children build food vocabulary. Instead of only saying “nice” or “yuck”, they can begin to describe food as crunchy, juicy, sweet, soft, tangy, fresh or mild.
We will also remind the children that everyone has different tastes. One chef may love cucumber, while another may not enjoy it yet. Both responses are fine. Learning to talk kindly about food preferences is part of learning to cook and eat with others.
The aim is to create a positive experience around trying. A child who tastes a new vegetable and decides it is not for them has still learnt something. A child who watches, smells or touches a new food has taken part too.
We will celebrate our first Chef of the Week
To finish our first session, we will gather together for a recap. This helps the children remember what they have learnt and gives everyone a clear, positive ending to the class.
We will look back at three big parts of the session:
Getting to know each other
We will remember names, shared favourite foods and the idea that every chef brings something special to the club.
Keeping safe in the kitchen
We will recap calm movement, careful equipment use and safe cutting with the bridge technique.
Trying new foods
We will celebrate curiosity, bravery and the colourful rainbow creations the children made.
Then comes a very exciting moment: awarding our first Chef of the Week of the school year 🏆👩🍳
Chef of the Week is a lovely way to recognise effort, kindness and enthusiasm. It might be awarded for careful listening, safe chopping, helping a friend, trying something new or showing a positive attitude.
It is not about being the fastest or the neatest. It is about showing the qualities of a thoughtful little chef.
This first award helps set the tone for the year ahead. It reminds children that cooking club is a place where effort matters, kindness counts and everyone has the chance to shine.
A bright start to the cooking club year
Our first Little Chefs Kitchen First Club Class Getting to Know You and Eat the Rainbow session is designed to be welcoming, practical and full of colour. It gives children a chance to settle in, meet new friends and learn the safe habits they will use throughout the year.
It also gives them a joyful first cooking experience. They will explore fresh ingredients, build simple skills and discover that trying new food can feel exciting rather than scary.
We cannot wait to welcome back our little chefs and meet all our new cooking club members. This is the start of another fantastic year of cooking, tasting and learning together.
Let’s get cooking! 🌈🍴
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