Now that the children are out of school, the task of keeping them entertained begins. Paul Collins, an Oxfordshire chef and father of two, says he has the answer.

He is prepared to hold a cookery lesson in your own kitchen for up to four children at a time. His aim is to make the classes fun and teach youngsters how to prepare their favourite dishes.

Because they get to choose what they cook, they get pretty excited about the whole exercise. Paul says that children’s favourites at the moment seem to be pizza or pasta, which is great because these dishes are easy to create and can be prepared fairly quickly.

Yes, there might be smatterings of flour on the floor and the kitchen may not look as pristine at the end as when the lesson started, but that is soon sorted. Paul says that one of the things he also teaches is that the dish is not finished until the kitchen is clean and all the washing up is done.

Paul’s cooking experience covers 25 years. He began by studying cookery the Aylesbury catering college; having gained a scholarship, he went on to take his City and Guilds qualifications at the prestigious Westminster College.

While studying there, he worked full time for chef David Cavaliere who helped him hone his larder work skills and take a real interest in creating the best he could from quality fresh ingredients. He acted as David’s mentor and inspired him to take the craft of cookery as far as he could.

After qualifying, Paul went on to work at The Dorchester, Lucknam Park, Daylesford Organic and the Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire. He has cooked for royalty, prime ministers and world-famous stars from music, stage and screen, and gained awards from the Michelin and AA guides.

He was also chef to Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford, of the JCB family, catering for a full range of social engagements from shooting lunches and Caribbean beach parties to formal dinners.

Having travelled the world with his clients and cooked for virtually every occasion, he is now ready to launch his own venture and offer his skills to people who entertain at home, enjoy quality food and have children who would like to learn to cook.

He launched his own business venture, ChefPaulCollins, because he has got to the stage when he is ready to work for himself.

The idea of specialising in children’s cookery came to him when he realised what fun it is teaching his own children to cook. Although his little boy, George, is just two-and-a-half, he is already enthusiastic about helping his father cook.

On the day I interviewed Paul he had been showing George how to make a cake — he is still not sure who found it the most fun. But the result was a great cake and a very happy child.

Obviously, there are safety measures that have to be taken into consideration when sharing the kitchen with a young child. Kitchens can be dangerous places. To cook you require heat, and heat can cause burns — so great care is needed.

When a child is using a sharp knife, they have to be watched at all times, and when they are stirring something on the stove, even more care is required.

Opening an oven to check a dish is something that they should only do under supervision and if a cake is ready to remove from the oven, even more supervision is needed.

Hygiene is important, too. However young the child, they must be aware that cleanliness is important. Hands must be washed before they begin cooking, and dirty pots and pans must be washed at the end of the session.

Such safety measures need not be scary — just monitored to avoid accidents. Cooking is fun. He sees it as his job to instil this sense of fun into the proceedings, which is what he does. Paul’s aim is to inspire children to take food seriously. Some of his lessons begin by visiting the vegetable plot in the garden and helping the children in his care harvest vegetables and fruits.

He says it is important that children see just where the ingredients come from. “It’s good for them to learn that things growing in the garden are all part of the cooking experience.”

Paul usually stays with the children for three hours, encouraging them to cook something that they can eat for lunch. He supplies all the ingredients after speaking to their parents and deciding what kind of dishes they would like to eat and therefore cook.

If you would like to contact Paul and learn more, you can do so by logging into his website (www.chefcollins.co.uk) or phoning him on: 07774 866 902. He lives in Little Milton and is happy to travel anywhere in Oxfordshire to conduct this class.