08/30/2026
☀️👩🍳 Looking Back at Summer at EmpowerEd: Mini Chefs Week! 👨🍳🍴
As we look back on all the fun we had during our EmpowerEd Summer Enrichment Program, Mini Chefs Week is definitely one of the weeks that stands out! 💛
Our kiddos spent the week learning through food, cooking, community experiences, games, teamwork, and service.
One of the most meaningful parts of the week was our Every Sandwich Counts project. 🥪💙
Before we got started, we talked together about homelessness, food insecurity, and the fact that not every family or individual always has enough food available to them. Then our kiddos got to work doing something tangible to help.
Together, they made 50 sandwiches for members of our community!
Our chefs prepared turkey and cheese sandwiches and PB&J sandwiches, working together to assemble, organize, and package everything. Before we started, they even made predictions about how many sandwiches they thought we could make, with guesses ranging from 20 all the way to 1,000! 😂
But the project wasn’t only about making food.
Our friends decorated the sandwich bags with encouraging messages such as:
💛 “Have a nice day!”
💛 “You’re awesome!”
💛 “Keep going!”
💛 “You’re so brave!”
It gave us an opportunity to talk about how even something that feels small to us can make a difference for someone else.
Throughout the project, our kiddos practiced counting, sequencing, following directions, communication, teamwork, fine motor skills, and problem solving, but most importantly, they practiced kindness and thinking about the needs of others.
Mini Chefs Week also gave our friends plenty of opportunities to make and explore food themselves! 👩🍳
Our kiddos spent time following recipes, measuring and combining ingredients, practicing kitchen safety, making choices, trying different foods, and developing independence with everyday kitchen tasks.
We also took our learning out into the community with a visit to Cathy’s Catering, where our chefs were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at food preparation in a professional setting. They had the chance to observe, ask questions, and connect some of the skills we were practicing at EmpowerEd to a real local food business.
And because summer enrichment should still feel like SUMMER, we made plenty of room for fun too! ☀️
Our friends played food-themed games, competed in Blooket, played Apples to Apples and WAR, shared meals together, took movement and play breaks, and wrapped up our week with some very creative ice cream creations. 🍦😂
Marshmallows, Swedish Fish, sprinkles, chocolate rocks…nothing was off limits once our Mini Chefs got control of the toppings!
What we loved most about this week was how naturally so many different skills came together.
🥣 Measuring became math.
📖 Recipes became reading comprehension and sequencing.
🤏 Preparing food became fine motor practice.
🗣️ Cooking together became communication and social skills.
💪 Completing tasks independently became confidence.
🥪 Making sandwiches for someone else became a lesson in empathy and community.
That is exactly what we want our EmpowerEd Summer Enrichment Program to be.
Our kiddos are learning, but they are also doing.
They’re trying new things.
They’re building friendships.
They’re becoming more independent.
They’re learning about the community around them.
And they’re discovering that they are capable of making a difference in it. 💙
Mini Chefs Week was about so much more than food, and we are incredibly proud of everything our chefs accomplished! 👩🍳✨
We have so many more summer memories to look back on, and we can’t wait to continue sharing them!
