Building Confidence, Connection & Curiosity
Becky’s Mindful Kitchen offers summer camps, kids birthday parties, and private events near Iowa City, Iowa—built around cooking, creativity, outdoor play, and connection.
Located in Solon, Iowa, Becky’s Mindful Kitchen is a one-of-a-kind space for outdoor kids camps, unique birthday parties for kids, and hands-on group experiences. From baking and cooking to goats, archery, and creative play, there is something for everyone!
BMK Summer Camps and Teen Leadership Programs
BMK Kids Camps are built to give kids the chance to simply be kids. Summers here are spent running through the woods, playing with baby goats and chickens, and diving into hands-on learning. They get to stretch their creativity and pick up new skills — cooking, art, bushcraft, leadership, and plenty more.
Birthday Parties
Birthday parties at BMK are for parents who want to enjoy the time instead of manage it. To show up instead of stress out. To create memories that last beyond the moment.
Parties include time with goats and chickens, treehouse adventures, outdoor play, homemade ice cream, and hands-on options ranging from jewelry making to fun baking competitions. Snacks and party favors can be added to your package, or you’re welcome to bring your own. BMK Birthday Party Packages
Private Events
Private events at BMK are for people who want something different. A place to gather. A place to connect.
Whether it’s an indoor cooking or baking class, a creative workshop, or an outdoor timber escape, the focus is simple: time well spent.
Events here range from girls’ nights and date nights to adult birthdays, bachelorette gatherings, family visits, reunions, staff appreciation, and small group celebrations.
Meet Becky
Leadership is a lifestyle, not a job title.
I’m Becky Schmooke (pronounced “Smoke”). I’m an author, leadership consultant, and keynote speaker. I teach action-based mindfulness and leadership for people and organizations who are ready to do things differently.
I blend ancient Stoic wisdom with modern science to help people turn obstacles into opportunities and mindfulness into action. I’ve worked with teams in healthcare and corporate spaces, first responders, and athletes and coaches from youth sports to the NFL.
Becky’s Mindful Kitchen sits just outside Iowa City. It’s where I bring everything to life through hands-on experiences: team building and leadership retreats, strategic planning workshops, private parties and classes, and weekly summer camps for kids. The teaching kitchen is only the start. There’s also a treehouse, archery range, bushcraft skills, first aid training, a wood-fired pizza oven, chickens, baby goats, and a timber adventure playground.
I’m also a mom to 3 girls and the wife of a firefighter, so life stays busy! It gives me endless real-world stories, and I use them in my posts, talks, and workshops.
My goal is simple: build compassion and confidence in others, so they take action to live their life, not just pass time.
Choose the Handle that Holds: A Guide to Living, Leading and Owning the Moments That Matter, redefines leadership as a daily practice, not a title. With humor, honesty, and Stoic wisdom, it offers practical, action-based tools for choosing how you show up when it matters—and how to recover when you don’t.
