Wooden Spoon Kids Verified listing

Hello, my name is Ankie Niesing, and I am the founder of Wooden Spoon Kids -an online cooking club designed to teach children and teens real-life cooking skills in a fun, creative, and confidence-building way.

With a background as a Consumer Science teacher and Head of Department in London, I spent over a decade working with young people in both classroom and hands-on kitchen environments. My passion has always been simple: helping children develop practical life skills, a healthy relationship with food, and the confidence to create meals from scratch.

After returning to South Africa, I started Wooden Spoon Kitchen at my dining room table, and what began as small in-person classes has grown into a thriving online cooking club with families joining from across the country. Through structured weekly lessons, engaging recipe cards, step-by-step videos, and themed cooking activities, I aim to make cooking accessible, educational, and genuinely exciting for young learners.

At Wooden Spoon Kids, we don't just follow recipes. Every recipe becomes a lesson in history, geography, STEM subjects, nutrition, and culture. Children earn skill badges as they progress through the program, which can also be collected as real badges on their aprons. From Baking Boss and Flavour Master to Knife Skills Pro and Breakfast Champion, each skill builds on the last, helping children develop confidence and competence in the kitchen. Every lesson is designed to foster independence while keeping learning fun, age-appropriate, and achievable.

I am also deeply passionate about addressing modern challenges such as fussy eating, a lack of cooking confidence, and the decline of home cooking skills among children and teens. I believe that when young people learn to cook, they gain far more than food knowledge -they gain confidence, creativity, problem-solving skills, and lifelong independence.

At the heart of everything I do is a simple belief: when children feel capable in the kitchen, they feel capable in life.

I look forward to welcoming your child into our cooking community.