Sneak a little math class into your kitchen
There are lots of reasons to get your kids helping out in the kitchen. Making food together gives families a chance to talk together and enjoy each other’s company. And sooner or later, the kids will be out on their own and needing to cook for themselves. But parents don’t always think about the fabulous teaching opportunities that can come in in the kitchen.
Cooking with a recipe involves reading carefully and following complex directions, both important skills for those standardized tests. But the best lessons are definitely math related. What better way to practice fractions than measuring ingredients for some tasty cookies!
Scholastic Parent and Child has a great article on ways you can incorporate math skills into cooking sessions with your kids. The youngest kids can practice sorting and counting, while older kids do well with fractions and using proportions to double or halve a recipe. This site offers a few interesting recipes that include specific math suggestions.
Cooking — it’s the best to fill your stomach… and your mind.
