Math in the kitchen

[SundayCrepes]

Today after we cut the mushrooms for mushroom soup my son said he wanted to weigh them so he ran in and got his balance scale and we learned about consistency of weight.

It got me to thinking I'd like to write a story for him that will incorporate math concepts. So far I have...

the left side was heavier. Now that we've switched the mushrooms around, which side will be heavier on the balance scale?

addition, we have two eggs in this carton and the recipe calls for 3. How many eggs do we need to get from the chicken coop?

fractions, the recipe calls for 2 cups but I can't find my 1 cup measuring cup. How many half cups do we need?

subtraction, the recipe calls for 4 carrots and their are six in the package, how many should we take out? (I don't like the carrots, but I can't think of a packaged product that we could subtract out of. Anyone have a suggestion for a better packaged product that needs to be subracted? Maybe it could be separated out at the store when they are buying it.)

Are there any other math concepts appropriate for a 5 year old that I'm missing out on? Any thoughts on what we could be making? I'm thinking a vegetable pot pie, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions for that?

Hmmm...something about volume...

[moominmamma]

I think that arrays (of cookies especially!) are a great pre-multiplication concept. They invite skip-counting, observations about the commutative property of multiplication, and memorization of familiar multiplication facts. For instance, if you have a favorite cookie recipe that you usually lay out as 3 rows of 5 cookies per sheet, and two sheets, your ds will likely notice that three 5's is fifteen, and five 3's is the same fifteen, and two fifteens are thirty, and six 5's can be thought of as three 10's.

I think that kitchen math is most exciting when it's like this, when it invites genuine mathematical intuition, deduction, observation and conversation, when it's led by genuine discovery. You don't have to orchestrate this sort of thing as much as notice it and engage with your child when it takes shape.

For instance, if we need three eggs and there are two left in this carton, then we'll need one out of the new carton. In the confusion of multi-tasking we might lose track of how many we've put in, but we'll know we've got all three if we find 11 remaining in the new carton. That process of counting and checking and calculating incorporates addition, subtraction, negative numbers (the one-egg debt we have, that we have to make up from the other carton) and regrouping (11+1 makes a dozen, plus there's the other two) all of which will help gradually build the conceptual foundation for place value and algebra and multi-digit addition and subtraction. It's not a math exercise per se, but it is so rich with mathematical thinking!

The other day my 7yo asked me to cut the pound of butter exactly in half for her for some recipe she was baking. I cut it and told her had done my best, but couldn't guarantee I'd cut it exactly halfway. I said "Just eyeball them and choose the halfier half." I didn't fool her for more than a split second before she caught on. "That's impossible!" she laughed. "If this one is more than half, then that one's less by the same amount!"

We also learn huge amounts of chemistry and physics in the kitchen, just by baking and canning and using heat and ingredients and noticing what goes on in the course of preparing food.

Miranda

[straighthaircurly]

Love this. Cute idea...

You could introduce the difference between weighing an ingredient and measuring by volume. The recipe calls for 1 cup of mushrooms and 1 cup of peas, do these weigh the same?

The variation in a recipe. Line up all the carrots by length. Are they all the same? The recipe calls for 4 carrots, which 4 should we pick? Will it make a difference to the recipe?

[SundayCrepes]

Great ideas. Thanks.