Meet Barbara Beery

Barbara Beery

 

Take 12 to 15 kids, combine them with one exceptional cook, stir in a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and 18 years of teaching experience and watch the magic happen.

Barbara Beery founded Batter Up Kids in 1991. In a warm, supportive atmosphere where adventure is key, kids are given the go-ahead to be a hands-on kid in the kitchen – to smell, touch, taste, and most importantly, make mistakes. Experiment with dishes like Flying Frog Pudding, Firecracker Chicken, or Monster Mash Muffins and you’ll quickly see that cooking with kids can be fun and flexible, not frustrating.

In an age when parents are increasingly harried and kids are overscheduled, you don’t have to get in the car and drive to entertain your kids, nor do you have to give in to fast food. What Barbara learned at a very young age is that the kitchen is a wonderful culinary playground. Since then Barbara has been creating menus and recipes, and passing on her own lessons from home. For instance, you can try anything and you can definitely have fun with your food. When kids enjoy cooking, they get more involved in better eating, and they build a lifelong skill that doesn’t put good, healthy food on the back burner.

Over the past 20 years Barbara has taught thousands of children through year-round classes, cooking birthday parties and summer cooking camps. Unlike other children’s activities that require years of dedication and skill, cooking offers instant gratification with one major ingredient – imagination. While creativity and fun are the primary goals, kids also get the added benefit of tapping into science, math and reading.

The momentum behind Batter Up Kids, Inc. has led to many other successful ventures including the launch of a new, innovative website just for kids cooking products called,

HYPERLINK “http://www.kidscookingshop.com” http://www.kidscookingshop.com.

Barbara is the author of 11 children’s cookbooks including three best-selling cookbooks which have sold over 300,000 copies! Her titles include Pink Princess Cookbook, Mermaids Cookbook, Pink Princess Cookbook, The Texas Longhorns Cookbook, Pink Princess Spa Cookbook, Green Princess Cookbook and Pink Ponies Cookbook.

Barbara has been a spokesperson for such national companies as Sun Maid Raisin, Uncle Ben’s, Borden’s and Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. Since 2002 Barbara has been a contributing writer to FamilyFun, the country’s leading family magazine. She has appeared twice on the Today Show, CBN with Pat Robertson and her business has been featured in the New York Times and Entrepreneur Magazine, as well as dozens of other local and national publications.

Barbara believes in teaching children about giving back to their community. She is currently working closely with and has the endorsement of Rachael Ray’s Yum-o Organization, Susan G. Komen, American Heart Association, and the Great American Bake Sale.