School Workshop: Crazy Chef Challenge

Workshop overview

The Eden Chef has gone bonkers and has set a challenge for the students. He has written a recipe for a delicious cake containing ingredients from all over the world. The instructions are clear, but the ingredients are written in gobbledegook (actually, Latin).

If your students can unravel the clues, find the plants and collect the ingredients, the chef will bake the cake for you all to eat. If not, the chef will eat the lot! With clues, a map and a worksheet to help them, the students find and collect the ingredients from the Biomes in order to win the challenge.

While the cake is cooking, students investigate where in the world the ingredients have come from and how this connects them to people and places across the planet. Finally, the cake arrives and is shared out amongst the students.

Visiting teacher

“ One of the most educationally rich venues to have taken groups to visit. I would hope all pupils at our school could visit on a rite of passage. ”

Practical information

This workshop enables students to:

investigate everyday plants; their uses and geographical origins
discover our connections to people and places around the world through the food we eat
use mapwork skills and coordinates to find their route

We've designed the workshop to help teachers cover the following subject areas:

In Geography, pupils are taught to use a globe to identify the position of countries across the world including those in Europe, North and South America. They should be taught about key physical and human characteristics of these locations using geographical terms and identify trade links with the UK. They should use fieldwork skills such as map work and grid references.

The workshop costs £7.95 per pupil with a minimum charge of £159 per group (includes VAT). Maximum group size is 35. The cost includes:

a facilitated workshop with our Education Team
free access to the Eden site for the day
all equipment needed for the workshop
free teaching resources enabling your class to prepare for the workshop and to follow up on the activity
a personal welcome from the Education Team at the entrance
a base for your bags in our purpose-built education centre, The Core
a space to eat your own lunch

The price includes free entry for accompanying adult helpers, whose participation is essential to the success of the day (please note our suggested adult/pupil ratios are as follows: Early Years Foundation Stage, 1:3; Key Stage 1, 1:6; Key Stage 2 and 3, 1:10; Key Stage 4, 1:15; Key Stage 5, 1:20). You’re welcome to bring more helpers if you’d like. Additional helpers are charged at our group booking rate.

We also offer a free preparatory visit to Eden for teachers wanting to plan their school trip, which should be booked in advance.