Right from the start of Lillekese Youth Center's activities, young people showed great interest in baking. We support their desire to cook with a cooking club, but cooking is also one of the most popular activities on an active young person's day.
At first, it worked well when young people let us know a week in advance what recipe they wanted to introduce to others on Active Youth Day, including what they needed to buy from the store. However, when we ran out of ideas at one point, we decided to take a more spontaneous approach and stock up on products that can usually be found in our own kitchen when we go shopping. If there were no activities planned for the Young Entrepreneurs Day, we let the young people know that they were free to bake something in the kitchen using the ingredients available. It was great to see how eagerly they searched through the cupboards and dove into the internet to find inspiration from recipes. Recently, they made chocolate chip cookies using only four ingredients: flour, margarine, sugar, and dark chocolate.
In addition to keeping busy in the kitchen, such activities also test the creativity of young people, because the exact same ingredients listed in the recipe may not always be available. Another important lesson to be learned from such activities is that when you have a sweet tooth, you don't have to run to the store first thing, as there is a good chance that you can make something sweet yourself at home.
Opinion Piece by a Youth Worker: The Importance of Imagination in Youth Work
At the Lillekese Youth Center, we have always supported young people’s desire and interest in playing fantasy-world games in a physical environment. During our first year of operation, playing “café” was a very popular activity—the café had its own menu, meal times, and waitstaff. An entire room at the youth center was transformed into one big dining area. One of the young people’s biggest favorites this year has been playing “apocalypse.”
