KIDS CAN COOK is a fun, entertaining, and enriching interactive program for kids. Our classes and events, held all over America, teach kids how to cook.
Founded by chef and entertainer Dianne Linderman, the KIDS CAN COOK experience is presented at state and county fairs around the country, and at Great American Lone Star Ranch in Stephenville, Texas, 90 minutes southwest of Dallas.
Sign up for Kids Can Cook Academy and Ranch Adventure in Stephenville, Texas! Please click below to make a reservation.
Please feel free to call 254-266-7711 anytime with questions or for help making a reservation.
Available classes: Jan 25
Scroll down for class details.
Email us at dianne@kidscancook.info
For more information on booking the Kids Can Cook traveling cooking show at your local event visit greatamericanpettingzoo.com/kids-can-cook.
Meet Chef Dianne Linderman
I love the kitchen and I love kids. Not only is it the place where delicious things happen, but it’s the heart of the home where families gather to talk, cook, and eat together. If there’s a child in your family, I’ll bet he or she has popped into the kitchen before mealtime asking, “Whatcha making?” and “Can I help?” I can’t wait to meet those kids and share real homestyle, made from scratch and with love, simple, healthy recipes, and show them where their food comes from with our incredible Ranch Adventure.
Kids Can Cook Academy will provide an approximately three-and-a-half hour session (depending on the recipes) and includes two meals, all ingredients, chef’s hat, supplies for herb garden, ranch adventure, instruction with lots of hands-on experience, and fun!
5396 S. U.S. HWY 281 • Stephenville, TX 76401
How it works
⬥ Young chefs will arrive at 8:45 a.m. at the Academy Kitchen located on our beautiful 80-acre Great American Lone Star Ranch in Stephenville, Texas.
⬥ They will put on aprons, wash hands and prepare to make breakfast. Each young chef will receive their own chef’s hat that will be theirs to take home. While teaching them how to make their first meal, Dianne will also teach food safety and the importance of cleanliness.
Breakfast will consist of two different recipes, such as homemade granola, quiche, French toast, omelets, fruit frappés, and more.
After preparing breakfast, the young chefs will then enjoy eating it.
Yum!
⬥ At approximately 10:00 a.m., the young chefs will go on a ranch tour to meet the animals and find out where their food comes from. They will learn how to milk a goat, gather eggs from nesting boxes, groom, feed, and clean up after goats, sheep, ponies, pigs, deer, wallabies, chickens and ducks.
⬥ After their ranch tour, around 11:30, the young chefs will return to the Academy Kitchen and wash up. They will plant their own personal herb garden that will be theirs to take home. These little herb gardens planted in egg cartons will be accompanied by instructions on how to grow and care for their herbs.
⬥ After planting, the young chefs will then prepare two lunch recipes. Sample recipes consist of delicious sandwiches, soups, burritos, homemade pizza, meat pies, grilled salmon, veggies, a dessert and so much more. Young chefs can then enjoy eating what they have prepared or they can take it home to share with their family.
Sign up for Kids Can Cook Academy and Ranch Adventure!
Inviting young chefs ages 5-17 to participate in one of the greatest experiences ever offered.
Each session has space for 12 young chefs.
Ask about our classes for 18 and over.
Classes are available on Saturdays.
Price is $125 per child.
Available classes: Jan 25
Please click below to make a reservation.
Please feel free to call 254-266-7711 anytime with questions or for help making a reservation.
We reserve the right to reschedule classes due to unforeseen circumstances. Rescheduling will be done at the customer's convenience.
Email us at dianne@kidscancook.info
"My 6 year old grandson attended and had so much fun. Not only did they cook, they fed animals, tried goat milking, picked vegetables and planted seeds. He would go again."
- Pamela
Dianne Linderman
Kid Whisperer
Dianne Linderman is the founder and owner of Dianne's Ranch Diner in Stephenville, Texas. She has 45 years of experience working with kids of all ages. Warmly known as, “The Kid Whisperer,” she believes that anyone, especially kids, can learn to cook simple, healthy and delicious recipes. Dianne’s quest is to teach confidence through cooking. Once she introduces her simple, farm-to-table recipes, kids can begin their adventure in cooking with an understanding of wholesome farm ingredients.
A natural born cook, Dianne was concerned she would lose her own creative, authentic identity if she attended a culinary school. Instead, she and her husband, David, took their money and started the Country Cottage Café and Bakery. Located on an organic farm in Southern Oregon, the very popular destination restaurant was featured in Sunset Magazine. There she enhanced her cooking skills by growing and using seasonal vegetables, berries, and fruits to create unbelievably delicious recipes. When you see how simple Dianne’s recipes are, using a few tricks she’s created, you too will want to cook everything from scratch!
Dianne Linderman has written five cookbooks including, Kids Can Cook, a 150-page cook book full of simple, healthy and delicious farm to table recipes. These recipes are the same ones she used at her famous Country Cottage Café and Bakery in Oregon, and at Dianne's Ranch Diner in Stephenville, Texas.
If you would like to book the Kids Can Cook traveling cooking show at your event, visit GreatAmericanPettingZoo.com/kids-can-cook for information and call Pamela at 541-512-1100.
Check out the schedule below to see when KIDS CAN COOK is coming to your area.
Kids Can Cook Show Schedule 2025
Aug 7 - Aug 17 • Iowa State Fair • Des Moines, IA
Sept 11 - Sept 21 • Oklahoma State Fair • Oklahoma City, OK