LITTLE chefs, aged five and under, had a soup-er time cooking at home with their families, after their nursery provided them with the right ingredients.

Staff at Cherubs Private Day Nursery in Sale sent their children home with recipe bags containing fresh ingredients and instructions for making a healthy and delicious soup.

The bags contained an orange, carrots, onions, lentils, stock and garlic; all of the ingredients needed to make a tasty carrot and lentil soup from Cherubs’ healthy seasonal menu.

The nursery’s families prepared and ate the soup together at home, before sharing photos of themselves cooking up a storm.

Cherubs Nursery manager, Samantha Malan, said: “We do lots to promote healthy eating at Cherubs, from freshly preparing nutritious meals in our kitchen, to teaching children how to grow their own vegetables in our garden.

“We often prepare food with our children at the nursery because it helps them to understand that fresh and healthy ingredients can be transformed into something really tasty. This time we thought it would be great to send something home that would help our families have fun cooking with the children too.

“Cooking with children is great for developing their independence, fine motor skills and understanding of where healthy meals come from. We know that cooking with a young helper can sometimes take a little longer than usual, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for our busy families.

“Our parents, carers and grandparents told us they loved cooking with the children and really enjoyed the soup. One of our mums even took the leftover soup into work the next day.”

The carrot and lentil soup is just one of the nutritionally balanced meals from Cherubs’ varied seasonal menu, which was awarded the bronze catering mark from the Soil Association in recognition of its use of fresh, locally sourced ingredients.