TEACHING TUESDAY [07.11.23]
Welcome to Teaching Tuesday! If you are new here, I’m a former teacher, have a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and am now a homeschool mom. You can read more about that journey here.
Every Tuesday I’m going to share an at home learning idea for preschool and elementary age kids, new curriculum resources and a freebie or two!
One of the best places to practice math skills, even as early as 3 years old, is in the kitchen! My boys have been in the kitchen with me since birth, from the sit me up chairs, to the high chair, to the cooking ladder, to the step stool. They’ve always wanted to be involved with anything I’m whipping up.
Here’s a few ways you can use math in the kitchen:
Basic Counting: Every time something is sliced, chopped, measured, etc. you count it. For example: If I’m making a sheet pan dinner, we can count the number of chicken breasts, number of potatoes and the number of green beans that are on the baking sheet. Count how many eggs you add to the brownie batter or how many stirs it takes to mix the batter up. There are literally 100s of things that you can count in the kitchen.
Fractions: As the kids get older, measuring cups and eventually measuring spoons are one of the easiest ways to teach parts to a whole. Butter is another great way to teach fractions, especially if it has the cutting lines on the paper. You can cut one piece of butter in half, then set it against a whole stick of butter for a visual of halves to wholes.
Reducing or Doubling: Another excellent skill to teach through the kitchen is how to divide a recipe in half for smaller portions or double a recipe for larger portions. This involves more advanced math, but it is amazing to see how capable kids are when given a challenge! Start with a simple recipe like cookies or brownies and have the child write out the measurements reducing it by half and doubling it. In the beginning they may even need a visual representation, so pulling out the measuring cups and spoons can be very helpful.
Here are new resources that I’ve been working on this week!
