Our first cooking class

Yesterday was Avery's first Little Chef class. Avery's tumbling class got pushed to April and so they bumped her Little Chef class up to March. We were the first ones there and Avery walked into the big kitchen pretty timidly. We walked around exploring for a while and then more little kids showed up. There were 3 other little girls and one little boy. Avery was one of the youngest ones there.

The first thing the teacher had the class do was wash their hands. Then they got to work. There was a huge butcher table and the teacher had set chairs up so the kids could stand at the table. Each child had a bowl of dough and a bowl of cheese. There was also a communal bowl of green pepper slices. Avery was pretty heavily tempted by that cheese and kept touching it. At one point she got a mouthful almost to her mouth but I told her we had to wait until we heard what the teacher wanted us to do.

We made pizza caterpillars! Avery and I divided the dough into little segments and then rounded them and flattened them out (Avery loved this). Then we got to put little mushroom pieces in for legs. After that they had to bake for a little bit. While they baked we got to make peanut butter play-dough. The teacher passed out samples before we got started so the kids could taste what they were going to make. It was really easy and all of the kids loved it. The teacher told the kids they weren't allowed to lick the spoon until they were done mixing their own bowl. Avery was really glad when we were done mixing. She took a huge bite of the dough off of her spoon. The teacher had the little kids throw away their spoons and bowls so we could get back to work on the pizzas. The kids really seemed to like lining up and throwing things into the trash.

As we finished the peanut butter play-dough the timer for the pizzas went off. The teacher passed out the caterpillars to the kids. When Avery got hers back she lowered her head to the caterpillar and took a big bite out. Everybody thought that was funny. The teacher passed out little bowls of sauce and pepperoni. Avery helped me put the sauce on but when it came to the pepperoni she just kept shoving them into her mouth instead of on the caterpillar. While she chewed up her mouth full of pepperoni I put some on the caterpillar. Then I helped stick in the green pepper antennae. Avery finally got to put the cheese on--she dumped the whole bowl on top before I had time to show her how to sprinkle it on, but we were able to make it work.
While the pizzas baked again the kids got to sit at a table and color pictures. When the pizzas were done the teacher passed them out again and the kids each got a napkin and a cup of apple juice. Then they got to eat their little caterpillars. Avery picked all of the pepperoni off and ate them. She was pretty happy with her work.

After we were done we cleared our spot and got cleaned up so we could go. Avery went in and said and waved bye-bye to her teacher. She also said thank-you. It was so cute!! On the way home Avery kept saying, "Bye-bye to the teacher! Bye-bye to the teacher!" I think she will be really excited when we go back next week.