Mini chefs will learn to cook more often and try more varied recipes thanks to a £2,000 cash donation.

Children at the Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground (Blap) have been told the future of their twice-weekly cookery sessions has been secured following the donation from Tesco in Oxford Retail Park.

Managers at the playground, based in Blackbird Leys Road, will use the money to pay for new utensils and cover the costs of its weekly £30 to £40 shop for ingredients.

Project leader Alston Quammie said the cash would also allow the charity to run healthy eating sessions, where the children could choose their own menus then cook accordingly.

Mr Quammie said: “It is just brilliant. What this does is guarantees the cookery programme for a whole year.

“We have been spending a lot of our petty cash on ingredients because cooking is what the children want to do.

“Now we can look at the project on a long term basis and perhaps develop it more.”

Mr Quammie received a cheque from the supermarket’s community budget this week.

He said: “The children like cooking because they learn how to make cakes and get something to show at the end of it.”

Tesco customer services manager Shaz Khan said: “We thought we would go for Blackbird Leys as it is right next to us and it is a very good project.

“I am quite proud that we have managed to support them.”

The grant followed a £600 donation from Fox FM’s Help An Oxfordshire Child Appeal, which will be spent on a new fridge and cooker.

School club member Courtney Downie, seven, from Blackbird Leys, said: “Cooking is fun. I like doing the mixing. We have made cakes and flapjacks.

“This is very good because it means we will be able to do more cooking.”

Blap caters for up to 40 children aged between five and 16 at its after school club, and up to 80 during school holidays.

The charity is waiting to hear if Oxford City Council will allow it to expand by letting it use a derelict pre-school building behind its facilities.