Cooking Classes for Kids in Thailand to Get Them Familiar With the Kitchen

We aren't in the 1950's anymore. Cooking is not and should not be gender-based. Everybody belongs to the kitchen — and yes, that includes children, too! A fundamental life skill, cooking entails many benefits to kids, from fostering creativity and independence to teaching them about nutrition and improving their motor skills and concentration.

Of course, it bears no repeating that children must always be supervised by adults when cooking. Parents in Thailand who wish to get their kids acquainted with the kitchen, here are some cooking classes for you to enrol the tots in!

A Little Something

This centre was founded in 2009 to offer a dynamic space for children to learn through cooking. A Little Something believes that cooking can improve the IQ, EQ, and fundamental skills of children to equip them to become independent and well-adjusted in their lives. A Little Something's classes are conducted in English and Thai, and are divided into age groups: Toddler (1.6 to three years old, plus a parent), Kinder (three to six years old), Junior Cook (six to 10 years old), and Teen Chef (10 to 16 years old). It also offers a cooking camp every school break and after- school cooking activities in some schools in Bangkok.

Location: A Little Something,165 Soi Sukhumvit 49 (Klang), Klongton-nuer, Wattana, Bangkok (Head Office)

Phuket Cooking Academy

Expect to be under the tutelage of passionate and skilled cooking professionals at Phuket Cooking Academy to help you learn your way around the kitchen, whether you're experienced or not. Apart from its pastry and bakery, Thai food, and Western cuisine classes, the academy also offers Kids Chef classes for children aged five years old and above.

The Kids Chef classes are taught in English, French, or Thai and range from two to three hours, which include not just the prepping and cooking but more importantly, the tasting! Its Simple Cooking session, priced at THB1,250, will have your tot cooking soups, cookies, salads, dressings, and more. Meanwhile, its Baking & Art Initiation, priced at THB1,650, includes dessert-making and two art activities afterwards.

Location: Phuket Cooking Academy, 9/9 Moo 5, T. Srisoothorn, A. Talang, 83110 Phuket

Riverside Thai Cooking

Apple is the heart and brains behind Riverside Guesthouse and Riverside Thai Cooking, a small family-run hotel in Phangnga province. While working in a hotel in Khao Lak in her twenties, she decided to put up her first restaurant, but this did not work out in her favour due to a tsunami in 2004. Five years after this event, Apple launched Riverside Guesthouse in Khao Lak, and then her cooking classes thereafter.

Riverside offers four-hour morning and afternoon Thai classes, which take guests to either the local market or to the classroom from their hotels. Students are then taught how to carve vegetables and cook Thai spring rolls and one local dish of their choice.

Riverside's Thai cooking classes are suitable for children, with Apple having a special menu reserved for kids that comprises simple and tasty dishes. We recommend Riverside if you want your cooking class to be a whole family affair!

Location: Riverside Thai Cooking, 28/1 Moo 5, Khao Lak, Phang Nga, Thailand

Chef LeeZ

Chef LeeZ has been ranked by TripAdvisor as Bangkok's number one cooking class since 2011. Its 10 AM Bangkok Cooking Class, which is offered daily, will have you cooking 12 different dishes in one session, with each dish learned priced at less than THB200. You also get free access to its online recipe book and how-to videos.

Chef LeeZ's cooking class welcomes children, so it's perfect for a fun activity for the entire family! Just some of the dishes you'll be cooking here include pad Thai, green curry chicken, holy basil chicken, green papaya salad, sticky rice mango, and more. The class begins with an introduction and a street market tour and then the cooking (and eating!), capping off at 2 PM. You may reserve Chef LeeZ's 10 AM Cooking Class on its website.

Location: Chef LeeZ, 4/488 Soi 57 Seri Thai Road Soi 19, Bangkok