For parents across the globe, holidays like Thanksgiving often result in a few extra hours in the kitchen. To help relieve some of the stress of cooking on your own, consider getting your kids involved in all the work.
Did you ever notice that you can practice basic math skills in the kitchen? The tasty results and hands on experience of cooking can make some lessons more memorable than those pulled directly from a textbook. From calculating costs and conversions to adjusting measurements and other simple equations, there’s much for your kids to learn beyond common culinary techniques.
Some tasks they could easily take on include:
- Measuring ingredients – this can help your kids become comfortable with identifying and measuring quantities. That way, you can have all of your ingredients ready before you begin cooking or baking.
- Manipulating recipes – if you need to increase the servings of your recipe, have your kids try to adjust each ingredient measurement. For example, if you plan on doubling the serving size, they could easily multiply each measurement.
- Measuring cooking time – for kids learning to tell time, you might create an activity around how long it takes for certain dished to cook. For example, try adding your recipe’s cooking time to the time on the clock and ask your kids what time the dish should be completed.
- Preheating the oven – use this as an opportunity to have kids practice conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Some recipes might not have this information readily available, so you can get your kids started on learning these easy equations.
- Preparing baking pans – baking recipes often call for specific sized pans. Have your kids practice their measuring skills by using a ruler to find the one that you will need to use.
- Calculating cost - have your kids look at your shopping receipt and add up the cost of each ingredient listed in your recipe to practice basic addition.
- Dictating recipes – this not only helps you properly follow your recipe while cooking, but it also gives your child practice reading aloud.
These unique teaching techniques will have your kids excited to practice their math skills outside of school. And, after all their hard work, they’ll be given a tasty treat once your dish is ready to serve. Give it a try on your next cooking adventure and let us know how your kids liked learning about math in the kitchen.
Filed under: Current Events, Family Fun, Learning Tips | Tagged: family fun, holidays, learning tips, Math Blaster, Thanksgiving | 2 Comments »
