Cookie-Making Math

Get ready for some baking!

Make a batch of cookies with your child – and cook up all kinds of fun! You can build all sorts of learning into a cooking session… measuring your ingredients, counting your cups and teaspoons, and dividing the batch up into equal parts.

First, gather together all the ingredients: Take stock of what you have in the house and what you need – your child can help! Have them make a list for shopping, using beginning letters and/or pictograms, then you fill in the blanks to complete your list!

 Maybe you need sugar, two eggs, and some chocolate chips … your child’s list attempt may look like this: 

– now go shopping!

When you have all the ingredients assembled, let your child do the counting when you need 3 cups of flour, or a cup of sugar and let them use their developing strength to mix it all up or roll it out! It’s good for them!

When placing dough on cookie sheets, encourage your child to set up equal rows and count cookies by ones, twos, etc.  - Great counting practice!

While the cookies are baking and cooling, make time for you and your child to write and illustrate the story of making the cookies: Have your child dictate the words, or attempt to write the words  - and illustrate! Make sure to do an author's page, as well, complete with a picture of the cookie chef with the cookies! (If you're doing this in a classroom, compile for the cutest recipe book ever! ... Not ready to become a baker? You can still pretend-cook and use store-bought cookies for counting lessons!)

And, there are still more math lessons left - distribute the cookies into several piles forming equal parts. For example, 12 cookies divided into 4 piles … one at a time … equals 3 cookies in each pile.

Finally, since your child got to create these treats, make sure to get a little subtraction lesson in, too! Four cookies on a plate minus one leaves how many?

Yum!!