A Life Skills challenge where students collect recipes from the people in their life, cook each one, and run the whole project on an organizer they build themselves.
What Your Child Does
Brief the grown-ups. They read you a short talk, copy a five-line contract by hand, and you both sign it. They upload a photo of it.
Build the organizer. On paper or in any tool they like: at least fifteen people to ask, a date next to every name, cooking days and a target publishing date. They upload photos of it and check that it answers five questions: who have I asked and when, who owes me a reply, which recipes came back missing something, which have I cooked, and what am I cooking this week.
Chase and cook. When a recipe comes back, they start a page. After cooking it, they add a photo of the dish and six details: the person's full name, who they are to your child, when your child contacted them, the recipe title, the ingredients with measurements, and why the recipe matters to that person. Each time, they photograph their organizer.
Raise the stakes. On the first ten pages, a missing detail can go on a to-get list. Two practice runs come next, and the last three pages need all six details the first time.
Finish the book. At fifteen pages that count, they add a title, an introduction and an about-the-author page, answer three reflection questions and send the book to their guide.
The One Rule
We score the organizer, not the book. A beautiful book made by remembering everything isn't a pass. An organizer that visibly ran the project, caught what would have been dropped, and got fixed when it broke is.
The Skills It Builds
Recipe Book is an Independence challenge. Students build their own system for tracking lots of people and dates, use it for weeks, and repair it when part of it breaks.
🌟The skill they show: "I can use and improve my own organizer to follow through on a recipe-book project."
What You Need
A computer, plus a phone or camera for photos (JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 12 MB).
Paper or any tool for the organizer.
Your kitchen on their cooking days. Each recipe is one of your normal meals.
At least fifteen people to ask. About half don't answer at first.
About six weeks.
How You Can Help
Hear the talk and sign the contract.
On cooking days, the kitchen is theirs. Help when they ask.
Suggest people to ask, but never contact anyone for them.
Don't touch the organizer, even if it looks messy.
Please don't remind them. Remembering is the challenge.
Once a week, ask where one person stands, like "Where's Aunt Linda at?" They answer from the organizer.
Rewards
Your child earns Stardust and Independence points along the way: for the signed contract, their first organizer, their first cooked page, and five, ten, and twelve pages that count. The biggest share comes when their guide approves the book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my child need to know how to cook?
No. Any meal counts, and you can help when asked. Cooking skill, recipe quality and writing are never scored.
When does a page count?
When it has a photo of the cooked dish and all six details. If one of the last three is missing something, it stays in the book but doesn't count.
Is there a template for the organizer?
No, on purpose. Building it is the skill. The challenge shows one example and tells your child theirs will look different.
Who sees the book?
The book, organizer photos and reflection are private to your child and their guides. Your child can print the book or save it as a PDF to share.
What if they get stuck?
Each screen says what's still needed, and Alphie can help. He nudges with a question and never builds the organizer for them.
Need help? Talk to Alphie, our smart AI assistant, in the Parent Portal. If he can't sort it out, he'll connect you with our team.