Cooking (Creative Curriculum)

Hello Educators -I'm planning the curriculum for a center and I would like to know how you design the cooking area for the creative curriculum. Considering 6 classrooms, having a space for children to cook at their own free will is a little intimidating. Am I looking at this the wrong way? Can I still use the creative curriculum and simply leave the cooking center out?

[melskids]

I use The Creative Curriculum, but I am an in-home provider.

My opinion is that the cooking area doesn't have to be extravagant or really complicated.

You could set out graham crackers, peanut butter (I know a lot of centers are peanut free, but I'm just using this as an example) and plastic knives or speaders. Let them make their own snack. Or you could set out lemons or oranges and some hand held squeezers or juicers and let them fresh squeeze their own juice. Or even a block of cheese and some cheese cutters and crackers.

Cooking doesnt always mean complicated steps, and tons of directions and flour all over the room. Keep it simple. And of course, just like some of the other areas, like art, it may need a little more supervision than other areas in your space.