Winter Break Middle School Cooking Camp

Middle School Cooking Camp brings middle schoolers into cooking classes in the Regenstein Learning Center’s ITW Kitchen with a professional chef and culinary instructor. Campers take part in cooking classes for middle schoolers where they explore knife skills, learn how to cook with herbs, and see how brines, marinades, and rubs can enhance grilling. Cooking campers cook up something good each day in the new teaching kitchen, using seasonal produce from Windy City Harvest and focusing on vegetables and fruits harvested from the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden when available, along with healthy recipes. Each session introduces cooking techniques and botanical ideas that connect cooking lessons with plants and cuisines at camp and at home.

• Ages: 11–13 years old

The Chicago Botanic Garden offers cooking classes and camps for all ages, including Middle School Cooking Camp, in the Regenstein Learning Center’s ITW Kitchen. The Garden is a world-renowned living museum that is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and operated by the Chicago Horticultural Society. The Chicago Horticultural Society was founded in 1890, restarted in 1943, and later developed the Chicago Botanic Garden, which opened in 1972 after groundbreaking in 1965. The Garden states its mission as: “We cultivate the power of plants to sustain and enrich life,” and it is run as a public/private partnership with the Forest Preserves of Cook County.

Last updated December 15, 2025.